Sonic Concepts 2
by Exploder
Summary: Sequel to Sonic Concepts. Sonic and Tails fight Robotnik again, but this time on Earth, amid a human war that isn't as black and white as it seems. Sonic has to find out who's right or wrong, while Tails struggles to overcome his lack of self-esteem.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The corporate headquarters of defense contractor GUN was a medium-sized ten-storey cuboid whose surfaces were almost entirely made up of dark glass windows, blending in quite easily with the rest of Century City. During daytime, up to five hundred people could be found working here, and there were plans to move to an even bigger building if the company's workforce grew.

Of course, to CEO Robert Mayes, that was a big 'if'. Despite being relatively young compared to the country's other defense contractors, concerns about GUN's future had already began to surface. Its sole product, a next-generation multirole carrier-based fighter jet with pilotless capability, was certainly an ambitious project, but its development had fallen years behind schedule. Many military projects usually had the backing of the DoD to keep them alive regardless, but not this one, as most people among the upper brass weren't very keen to invest in a company just a few years old.

The corporate troubles continued to exasperate Mayes, who was one of the few people still working in the building at this hour, though despite that, he managed to keep a calm, almost sweet tone as he chatted with his wife on the phone.

"No, it's alright, it's OK, honey. There's still hope. There are other militaries out there that are still willing to take a look at it," the fifty-year old said gently as he looked through the company's financial records on his computer, which suggested it wasn't so alright or OK.

"If you say so, Bob. It's just, I don't know," the worried feminine voice on the other end replied. "I heard the shareholders have been saying nasty things about you."

"We'll prove them wrong. Don't worry," he assured before sighing. "Are Mary and David asleep yet?"

"Yes, just ten minutes ago. When are you coming back?"

"Just need to finish this up. I'm pretty sure you'll still be awake when I arrive," Mayes said, already closing the programs.

"OK. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Jeanne." Mayes hung up before letting out a sigh, eyes closed. He wasn't lying when he said there was hope, but the chances were still quite slim. If they slipped out of his grasp, he had no idea what he could do next. He had had enough unsuccessful business ventures in his life. The prospect of another failure was real and unsettling.

Mayes shut down the computer before lighting up a cigarette. For a moment he wondered morbidly about getting lung cancer right after filing for bankruptcy, but then he shook his head, admonishing himself for having even thought that. It wasn't funny or responsible.

He got up from his leather chair and grabbed his coat. There was more time to think about all this tomorrow. Now he just wanted to get back to his family. Leaving his desk, Mayes was just about to reach for the doorknob when his cell phone rang again. He took it out and saw that it was a private number, which puzzled him. Such calls were rare for him. "Hello?" he said as he pressed the answer button, trying to sound friendly.

"I presume this is Mr. Robert Mayes, CEO of GUN?" an unknown male voice asked, sounding rather boisterous and self-important. It also felt strangely familiar, somehow.

"Um, yes," Mayes replied. His phone number wasn't exactly a secret, of course, but he could swear he heard this voice somewhere before. "Who is this?"

"Aw, come on. You sure you've forgotten already? It's only been two months," the man said in mock disappointment. Then the tone changed. "Do you really need me to…remind you?" it continued, now sounding both more sinister and familiar.

The latter had the effect the speaker intended on Mayes, whose eyes were now wide open. "You're…you're Robotnik?" He did not raise his voice, but the shock was definitely there. The CEO had, of course, seen the threatening television broadcast that madman from nowhere had made just over a month ago. "But, weren't you…how did you contact me?"

"Oh, please, Robert, don't act so surprised. Your number is practically everywhere. It doesn't take a genius intellect like mine to obtain it," the voice responded as if talking to the dumbest person in the world. "And for god's sake relax. I'm here to make you an offer."

That was even less expected than getting a phone call from him of all people in the first place. "What?" Mayes asked in disbelief.

"Let's keep this short, shall we? I am aware of the troubles you and your company are facing. But I believe your main project has much potential. Like I said earlier, I am a genius, and I already know how to fix its problems after looking at the design myself."

The CEO placed his nervousness aside for a moment to consider what he was being told. Even if Robotnik hadn't created that large flying fortress that the whole world saw months ago, he certainly knew how to use it, which was no small feat. The genius part about this guy was most likely true. But on the other hand… "And…I'm guessing you want something in return?" he asked, trying to remain calm.

"Correct. I guess you're not that dumb. You are selling some of these planes to Adabat, are you not? Well, you will tell me how to gain full control of the ones that will serve in their military. In exchange, your project gains new life, I gain power, and you gain wealth and prestige," Robotnik concluded. The way he said it made it possible to feel his gleeful smirk through the purely audio exchange. "So…what do you say?"

Mayes had been hoping for a second chance, anything, to keep this next-gen project actually next-gen, and this seemed exactly it. But at what price? He remembered what Robotnik had tried to do with his fortress last time. By giving him such toys, he could try something like that again. On American soil. The mad part about this guy was also most likely true. "You wouldn't…you would not use them against us, right?" he continued asking as his façade of calmness all but fell apart.

"Oh, let's just say it significantly lowers the chances of that happening," Robotnik replied nonchalantly.

Half a minute went by in silence. After much bewilderment, an important question hit Mayes. "How do I know your solution is any better than the ones my own engineers have come up with?"

"It is. Trust me. You will let me demonstrate it for you," Robotnik stated like it was a matter of fact, sounding bolder now.

"And…how are you going to do that?" Mayes asked back, daring to sound just a bit more defiant. Then he realized his mistake, remembered who he was talking to.

Before he could even swear about it, another voice started playing on the phone. A few seconds in, and Mayes stood still in shock. The voice was his own. It was his conversation with his wife earlier. "_Are Mary and David asleep yet?_"

"_Yes, just ten minutes ago. When are you coming back?_"

Robotnik ended the recording before speaking again. "Listen to me very carefully," he said, back in his unsettling tone earlier, "you and your family live at the corner of East 41st and Wadsworth. Your son attends UCSA, your daughter at Jefferson High. Your wife works at the California Science Center…" He proceeded to point out the times each family member left and returned to the house throughout the entire week, including the streets and transportation they used, all with frightening accuracy.

"So, I think you know which answer to give now," Robotnik said, sounding more smug than ever. "And of course, please try not to change your phone, inform the police, your family or anyone at all, or find excuses to not come to work. There are people watching, you know, and they will know when any of those happen. And then they will strike," he warned.

By now Mayes' expression was very pale. One would say he looked like he'd seen a ghost, but he preferred it much more if that actually happened instead. "Oh my god…"

"You will receive another call from me again tomorrow morning with precise instructions on what to tell your engineers, what to give me, and how to give them. It's too bad I had to resort to this. Sorry for any hard feelings caused...I know exactly what it feels like." There seemed to be a faint note of remorse in that last sentence, but it vanished very quickly. "Now, just go back home as usual. Smile to your wife and kids, as well as your employees the next day. And the day after that. Keep pretending nothing's happened, and it will stay that way as far as everyone around you is concerned. Now go on. They're waiting for you."

As the call ended, Robert Mayes realized he now fully understood what they meant by 'an offer you couldn't refuse'. He did not like it one bit. This was not how he chose to do business, but choice was the last thing he had right now. Feeling sick to his stomach, he opened the door and exited his office, now going home to his family only because he was forced to.


	2. Chapter 1: Focus

**Chapter 1: Focus**

It was a sight that used to surprise the locals, but no longer. Now, the pedestrians in this neighborhood were pretty used to the blue blur racing past them, though that wasn't to say they still weren't awed by it. Most kids exclaimed in excitement as it happened, and even the adults couldn't help but turn their heads to look.

Sonic the Hedgehog slid across the street corner with finesse, both natural and practiced, slowing down as little possible to change direction before speeding up again. To his sides, passers-by and people in front of their houses waved at him with a smile, both of which he returned. The sun was shining warmly above, and the wind was light. As far as Sonic was concerned, all was good in the world.

In the six months that they've spent here since their arrival, global attention had focused on the mobians like a laser. It soon became pretty clear where they were living, though Sonic had decided that rather than having a whole bunch of people come to see him, he'd go and see them personally. This was mostly to placate Alan Doherty, the FBI agent that he and Tails now lived under, as he had no interest in having his face becoming known everywhere like that of the mobians, but it was also a great opportunity for the hedgehog to go around exploring this planet.

The most recent location Sonic visited was Mexico, from which he was just returning. At first, there had been concerns of him crossing the border and the way in which he did so – namely, by simply leaping over the fence. A day later, news came that Sonic had helped to defuse a potentially lethal situation between armed drug dealers and the police. He had already performed a few similar deeds back in the US, which only increased his coolness factor in the public's eyes. He returned over the border soon after that, though by that time, some, including authorities, were hoping he'd stay in Mexico a bit longer.

Now back in LA, Sonic raced down the street he was now familiar with. He was deliberately limiting his own speed to be about the same as that of the average car to avoid causing problems for other motorists.

After turning one more corner, the hedgehog skidded to a stop in front of the beige, two-storey house with a maroon roof. The name on the mailbox in front read 'Doherty'.

Sonic was about to walk up the patio when the garage door opened, revealing a black Chrysler sedan that was reversing out. It stopped before reaching the street as the driver's window rolled down. "Hey, Sonic!" a man's voice called out from it.

The hedgehog walked up to the side of the car with a good-natured smile. "Al! Hey, nice timing."

Alan Doherty nodded. As usual, he looked like he was in a hurry. "Yeah, whatever. I gotta run, but I just wanted to say, nice job handling that situation down in Mexico. I read the reports. You must have saved at least twenty lives or so."

A shrug. "Eh, just glad I could help."

"I guess. But it'd be nice if you reported such things to me next time as soon as possible. You _are_ my responsibility, you know. And you really need a cell phone."

"Alright, alright, sure. Though I never needed one on Mobius anyway. That little earpiece Tails has is usually good enough. Where's he, anyway?"

"Where do you think? Upstairs. You know he's only either here or at Edwards. To be honest, it makes my job reporting about him a hell of a lot easier. He's probably gonna leave soon, so if you want, talk to him now. I gotta go."

"Okay, see you later," Sonic said just before the car window sealed up and the big sedan rolled onto the street. Once it drove out of sight, he walked up the patio and unlocked the front door with the keys he carried in his fur. As he walked in, thoughts about his friend made him sigh.

Miles 'Tails' Prower the two-tailed fox had been happy enough during his time here as well, though it wasn't because he followed his big brother to explore the world. The only two places he really always was in were this house and Edwards Air Force Base to the north, where the Tornado was now kept. There was enough in both areas to keep him entertained.

Still, he had a better balance between following the hedgehog outdoors and tinkering indoors back on Mobius. Sonic crossed the living room, walked up the wooden stairs and towards the door of their shared bedroom. He knocked. "Tails?"

The door opened a few seconds later. "Hey, Sonic, welcome back!" the orange fox greeted excitedly. "How was Mexico?"

"Not bad. Pretty hot, but the people there were nice too." Sonic's smile briefly turned into a frown. "Well, except for a few guys with guns."

"Oh, yeah. You sure did awesome handling them though!" Tails gave a thumbs up. "Looks like you'll be doing that more and more!"

"Eh, it was nothing. They really got a lot of guns and people that like to use them on this planet, though. It's a bit, I don't know, unsettling."

Tails also looked more serious now. "Noticed that too, huh?"

"I mean, I am going out there to see the world, after all. It gets obvious." His smile returned. "Anyway, whatcha doing?"

"I got up early, so I was just checking the internet, that's all," the fox said as he turned around back to the laptop on the desk, tails waving happily behind him. Alan, or more precisely his daughter Alicia, had originally wanted to buy a new laptop for him, but Tails had declined as he was perfectly content with using an older model that she already owned.

"What were you looking at?"

"The usual, though I also looked up about, well, us. You know, about our physical exam results that day. Just to see if they discovered anything new." The physical exam Sonic and Tails took a few weeks ago, which was mostly made up of MRI and X-ray imaging and overseen by Dr. Cheryl Doherty MD, her staff and several veterinarians, confirmed something they had suspected for a while now: signatures apparently similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds could be found in their bodies themselves, providing much explanation about their own abilities and much fascination to Tails. He'd found it too bad Knuckles couldn't join, since he still remained on Angel Island which now hovered somewhere over the Pacific, though he likely wouldn't have been interested anyway.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing we don't know already. They're still wondering how to actually research it further."

"I guess. Just hope it doesn't involve, you know…" Sonic made the motion of cutting something open with a scalpel. He'd seen some of those movies with aliens, and he had to admit they had unnerved him somewhat.

"Yeah, but I'm not too worried about that, I mean…" Tails thought about how to summarize the assurances against that concern, namely Alan and Cheryl's vows of protection, present scientific ethics and protocol and others, but gave up and shook his head gently. "Just don't worry about it."

"Alright, sure." Sonic walked up closer to his friend. "So how've you been, bud?"

Tails beamed. "Pretty good. I've looked at pretty much everything there is to do with tech in this house, though I haven't really looked that closely at Alan or Cheryl's car. Other than that I've just been showing off my plane to the Air Force guys and some scientists, and they show theirs to me, they're really cool, you know, both the people and the planes. We even did experiments with the emerald energy reserve, like for instance we found it doesn't work so well in cold environments-" The fox realized what he was doing and stopped abruptly. "Heh, sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Eh, it's cool. I mean, that, and how you're getting along with those guys and all. It's just, um…" Sonic sat down on the bed, looking contemplative and unsure of how to continue.

Tails joined him and looked at him with a curious expression. "What is it?"

The hedgehog began slowly. "I mean…I like running around to see the world even more, but it'd like it even better if, you know, I had some company."

"Oh," Tails said in understanding. "I'll come one of these days, Sonic. I want to come too. It's just, meeting people in person is so…different from talking online."

"Well, like you yourself said, don't worry about it. You did pretty well making friends at the airbase after all."

"Yeah, but only because you had to speak for me at first," Tails pointed out before getting off the bed. "I gotta go for now. I'll follow one day, Sonic. Besides, you kinda need me and the Tornado to cross the oceans anyway." Sonic had expressed dismay over how he was living between two large oceans, as there weren't that many islands or landmasses that weren't interconnected on Mobius, though Alan reminded him that there were even worse places in this respect.

_Yeah, I guess it's better than being stuck on one of those island countries, nice as they are_. "Guess you're right. I'm gonna go off on another run too. You eaten already?" Sonic asked as he followed Tails out of the room and down the stairs.

"Yeah. Cheryl's chilidogs are going to be nicer than mine at this rate," Tails said with a chuckle.

Soon they were both outside. Sonic locked the door behind them. "So when are you coming back?"

"About eight, I think. Have to stay behind a bit longer today, if that's okay."

"No problem. Just do whatcha gotta do. Take care!"

"You too! Bye, Sonic!" Tails wished as he twisted his namesakes to hover into the air while Sonic dashed off, both heading to different places to start their day.

* * *

><p>"Still no news on Robotnik, then?" Doherty asked his colleague while walking to the cafeteria for lunch.<p>

"Not a blip on the radar," Special Agent Ryan Warner replied, shaking his head stiffly. He did a good job of hiding whatever frustration he felt at the matter.

With Alan it was rather different. "Goddammit."

"Al, I gotta say this," Warner began. "I know our job is to nab guys like him, but you seem almost obsessed."

Doherty looked at his friend of almost thirty years with a frown. "If you saw what he could do like I did, you would be too." He walked up to a server to place his order before continuing. "Seriously, he's both smart and insane. And missing. For months. That has never been a good combination."

"It is pretty strange," Warner admitted. "If he were alive, you'd think we'd have found him just days after that incident. He'd have nowhere to run."

Both men later settled at a table with their meals, Ryan having spaghetti and Alan having chilidogs. The latter knew he had been taking that a little too often lately.

"Damn, even you didn't copy eating what I ate when we first met," Warner teased.

"Well, it is pretty damn good," Alan said in response. "It's not necessarily related to Sonic. Though I guess I can thank him and Tails for introducing it to me."

"It's funny that you had to go onto a different planet to discover you enjoyed eating something that comes from Earth," Warner observed. "Actually, all these similarities between them and us just get a bit creepy. I'm surprised no anthropologist or something has tried to interview you."

"My face already appeared in the press once, Ryan, and I think that's quite enough for me. Besides, McLaughlin already gave the info that I had about Mobius to these universities. Think I'm obsessed? You should look at those people. Just ask my daughter," Alan remarked with a smirk. Alicia was studying at one now, and she had told her father that the professors of anthropology, biology and many other fields there couldn't be thankful enough to Alan for what he had provided.

"I guess," Warner said with a nod. "How're they doing anyway?" He'd only met the mobian duo once, but found them to be very interesting indeed.

Doherty shrugged. "Not bad. The usual."

"It's funny, I can barely remember how Tails sounds like since he said so little," Ryan remarked, sounding casual, but it was now time to get back to business. "Back to Robotnik, though, do you think we're missing something here?"

Alan was silent now. The lack of any trace of the man in months had caused an increasing number of people higher up to feel the mad scientist was truly dead, never be to be found, identified or understood.

But Tails' conjecture regarding how Robotnik could have survived and escaped kept Alan concerned. Tails was smart, and there was some confirmation of his theory after the navy assembled the debris left behind by the destroyed flying fortress. The entire behemoth was toast and unsalvageable, which meant there was nothing that could be reverse engineered. Large chunks were missing, but Tails, after looking at it himself, pointed out how the area where the bridge would be seemed to have never been there at all, and that it wouldn't have been difficult to make it detachable and have its own engines.

It wasn't too much to go by, but it was enough to make Doherty assume the worst.

Not least because he just couldn't let the same status quo between Sonic and Robotnik from Mobius be imported straight onto Earth. He couldn't imagine that.

Alan had thought of all the possible areas Robotnik could have landed at, based on the possible range the 'bridgecraft' could have had as suggested by Tails. The one he remained fixated on the most was Adabat.

The small Pacific island nation of approximately three million had had an internal conflict between the government and the _Ejército Revolucionaro del Adabat_ for decades. The ERA, or ARA in English, was known for being pretty fierce. They had, after all, inserted men into the US to forcefully steal the Chaos Emerald long ago after learning of its true location and potential as a weapon.

Robotnik was someone who knew much about the Emeralds. Would those people have welcomed him? "I still say we're not looking hard enough at Adabat," Alan spoke.

"Really?" Warner sounded curious.

"The ARA is very interested in the Chaos Emerald and they wish to topple the government. Robotnik's a Chaos Emerald expert and a megalomaniac who seeks power. What do you think?"

"Sure, but I mean, where could he hide? Adabat's pretty small. And their military had been sweeping and scanning through whole areas for a while now."

"I don't know. I mean, they're not the Afghan military, but they're undermanned and underequipped from what I see. And all their top brass is doing is buying shiny toys like the X-1." Alan read up enough about military equipment to know about how GUN's pet project wasn't doing too well. That company was lucky that Adabat's congress still backed them.

"Well, you're the one who served before, not me. What else do you think?"

"Bottom line is they're not thorough enough, and they probably can't be. They still have areas under ARA control, mostly the backwards and rural ones. Who really knows what goes on there? It's a blind spot. And if I'm not mistaken, a beach is part of their territory." Alan let the implication sink in.

"I get it. Fair point," Ryan agreed, nodding.

"I just don't think we're pressuring the Adabatian government enough." Alan took a sip from his orange juice. Then he put it down and stared hard into his friend's eyes. "If Robotnik really is there doing something, they will have failed a lot of people, more than just their own or us. Trust me."

* * *

><p>"I guess that's it," Tails said as he walked out of the hangar, the Tornado looking better than ever behind him. "Thanks for letting me salvage that turbofan. It's not the like the engines from the other planes are bad or anything, it's just…they're so old compared to the F119."<p>

Walking next to Tails was Staff Sergeant Miles Keating, who smiled in return. "No problem. I'm not really the one you want to thank though. You'd want to say that to those guys who finally got over head-up-assitis and gave the go-ahead for you, but please don't tell anyone I said that. Oh yeah, and the guy who crashed the plane."

The fox had to stop to laugh loudly. Deep down though, he felt somewhat bad that it took crashing an F-22 so that he could access its engines. It just didn't feel right, and not to mention impractical and unfeasible as a way of obtaining spare parts. "Sorry," Tails said as he calmed down, "I'm just glad the pilot ejected safely."

"Yeah, me too. We can't keep crashing planes forever just to maintain the Tornado, though," Keating pointed out.

Tails nodded. "I know. I think I found a way to improve its durability though. I'll show you tomorrow. But you're right, there has to be a long-term solution to this."

"From what I've seen of you and that plane, I'm sure you can figure it out eventually. I believe in you," Keating said.

Tails looked up at the technician, appearing surprised. "You really think so?" He beamed. "Thanks! But I'm sure I'll need your help."

The Staff Sergeant gave an A-OK gesture. "Just ask if you need anything. It's supposed to be a two-way relationship, and I'm gonna do my best to keep it that way."

"I appreciate it, uh, Miles," Tails said. He still found it awkward to call someone by their first name when it was the same as his.

"Yeah. So, see you next week?"

"Sure." Tails was already spinning his namesakes to lift off, waving. "Bye, then!"

"Have fun at home," Keating wished, waving back at the fox that was now flying off into the night. "Goddamn, it'll never stop being cool when he does that," he remarked to himself as he observed the sight for what seemed like the hundredth time.

All in all, it was a rather productive day for the two-tailed fox. He'd finally managed to gain access to the most suitable parts he needed to fix up the Tornado's rearmost thrusters. Outside of that, he'd finally finished modifying and reconfiguring it so that it would accept the arsenal commonly used by the US Air Force and other NATO countries. As he flew over the flat grasslands of Antelope Valley, he wondered if he should expand that to include compatibility with Russian weaponry as well. As much as he was contributing by explaining to them how to actually power a machine with a Chaos Emerald, they were unlikely to keep giving him missiles, rounds or spare parts just like that, as well as resources to invent certain ideas he had, or recreate advanced tools like his wrist device. On Mobius, it had been a simple matter of salvaging Robotnik's knocked out bots and equipment. He needed more leverage somehow. More influence.

He sighed, wondering how he was going to get to that stage. It was likely to take something major, something that really earned their trust and even more significant then telling them how to harness a potentially unlimited and clean energy source.

But how? He thought of it even more while hovering over Lancaster. Only one idea came to mind: an act of heroism of some sort. The kind Sonic always did back home, and was already doing here. Stopping a violent gunfight here, saving a falling man from death there, stopping a bank robbery here…

Tails didn't know how to say it to Sonic or on the blog he now kept, but he just couldn't find the confidence to believe he could pull off stuff like that. Mainly because watching Sonic appearing on the news made him realize that he'd pretty much never done anything on his own before, at least not while out there. He'd always been together with Sonic, or perhaps it was more accurately the other way around.

He really did want to follow his surrogate brother around, not merely to detect and defuse trouble, but to explore as well. From what he'd seen on the internet, the scope of the Earth was astounding in its vastness and variety. However, he soon found himself deep in a tight schedule at Edwards AFB, giving him no time to travel to locations that took days to reach and return from.

There was also, of course, the other problem. When he had first gone to Edwards, the fox had been so shy that Sonic had to speak to the staff there on his behalf. Staff Sergeant Miles Keating was the first person Tails had opened up to; the rest took a few more weeks. That was it. Even if he had no obligations to fulfill, his own timidity would still hinder him from exploring on his own.

He'd already made friends with most of the people at the airbase. His blog showed that his readers mostly welcomed him and wanted to meet him, even if just out of curiosity. _So what's the problem?_

Without even knowing it, Tails had already cleared the entire Angeles National Forest and was now over the urban jungle of Burbank, which was bathed in infinite specks of yellow light. He decided to lower his altitude somewhat, to scan the area he'd always just passed by in detail, and perhaps to clear out the issues on his mind. Then he realized that latter part probably wasn't going to work. _Getting closer to others_, he thought, almost with a chuckle, _quite literally_.

After flying and scanning for a minute, he felt that there wasn't much interesting to see or get close to. It just seemed like the same short buildings over and over, no imposing skyscrapers like in the other big cities. He was about to lift himself higher again when that changed.

Either this area was just empty compared to the others, or it was even later than he thought. There wasn't anybody walking around except for what seemed a like a small group of men in front of a two-storey building, probably a warehouse. Tails noticed the group seemed to be talking with what seemed like a uniformed guard…before one of them suddenly punched him. The guard crumpled onto the ground motionless and the men quickly dragged his unconscious form through the door. Even from up here, they seemed especially nervous and in a hurry.

Something was definitely going on. Tails looked around the rest of the area. There was nobody else to witness to crime other than himself. He was the only one who could do anything about this.

Curious and suspicious now, Tails slowly descended onto the sidewalk a good distance away from the building, ready to check out what was happening. That this was a scenario that perfectly fit what he had been thinking of earlier did not cross his mind.


	3. Chapter 2: Night of Error

**Chapter 2: Night of Error**

Tails sneaked across the loading field and approached the two open garage doors from the side slowly. As he got close, the roller shutters suddenly activated and closed down, which caused him to take a step back in shock, though fortunately he made no other noise, and the shutters themselves were already quite loud.

Nevertheless the fox berated himself for not having considered other factors, such as how the men inside would definitely be looking out for others coming to the doors after what just happened. There was no way he would have been able to peek inside without getting spot.

He looked around to make sure the streets were empty, and they were, before leaning sideways towards the shutter, putting his ear against its somewhat aged surface. His curiosity rose when he realized that the men inside were speaking Spanish, a language he didn't know, though it was clear they sounded panicky and angry, likely arguing over what to do with the guard they just pulled in.

Tails also almost panicked as it hit him that they could very well just kill the man to hide their secret. _Stop wasting time!_ he nearly yelled at himself. He had to find a way to get in now, and it was obvious it wasn't going to be from the front.

His thoughts raced to find a solution, and a second later an idea came to him. Silently backing away from the doors, he spun his tails and flew up onto the roof. Up there, he saw the door that would lead to the stairwell. He decided not to waste time and just ran up to it, tails spinning behind him for an extra boost of speed. It took him longer than he expected, which revealed how long or broad this building was. He slowed down before the steel door to avoid crashing into it and tried the knob. To his relief, the door swung open without a sound, and there was no one down the stairs, although it was a bit dark.

He went down to the bottom of the stairwell, which led to a corridor that only had a few of its lights on. The rooms on both sides were dark and empty, suggesting this building wasn't in use. So what were those people doing here? Tails ran forwards to the wooden door at the end, and when he reached it, he could hear the loud, arguing voices coming through it. He twisted the knob and pushed very gently.

As expected, behind the door was the spacious cargo room with the roller shutters earlier, lit up mostly with yellow lights. Tails snuck ahead, hiding behind the wooden crates near the door to watch what was happening. In the distance was a group of men, about thirteen of them, standing next to two white vans. They had various guns slung around them, though the fox only recognized the AK-47s, and laying against a pillar to the right was the unconscious uniformed man. One of them suddenly shouted "_¡Basta!_" momentarily silencing everyone present. He then continued talking to the others in a softer but sterner voice, most likely reprimanding them.

Regardless, it was clear they weren't just going to let the man go. It was best to come in fast and knock them out while they were being lectured. Behind the crate, Tails wound up his namesakes, ready for a large burst of acceleration. The distance between him and them should be such that when he flew towards them, they shouldn't have any time to react at all, and by softening the edges of his spinning tails, he should be able to hit them without chopping them up, like a bowling ball on pins…

All of his combat considerations came to a halt when a new thought hit him: _What are they hiding?_ He was surprised that the question didn't occur to him earlier. Furthermore, he realized that the answer could be right in front of him, inside this crate. Like the other ones, it appeared to be fairly new, with no signs of dust or wear. And oddly enough, it didn't seem to be locked, nailed or secured in any way.

Tails stopped spinning his namesakes and settled down. With nothing happening to the guard right now, he turned most of his attention onto the crate, though he knew he still had to make this quick. He slowly slid his gloved thumbs into the gap under the crate's cover and lifted it an inch, learning in the process that it was quite heavy for some reason, before peeking inside. What he saw confused him very much.

It appeared to be some sort of smooth, slightly curved sheet of metal. The fox's experience with the Tornado and in Edwards AFB allowed him to immediately guess what it was: radar-absorbent stealth coating for an aircraft. Next to that was an electronic circuit of board some sort, likely meant for aircraft as well, with a small, stylized logo clearly visible in on the board's bottom right corner: GUN.

Before Tails could think any further over this, the wooden lid suddenly slid off the crate's top away from him. Unable to pull it in time due to its weight, it hit the floor with a resounding thud, which was accompanied by a small gasp.

The contents of the crate were now fully revealed to Tails, but it became clear that wasn't so important now. All of the men near the van turned to look in his direction. The looks on their faces were that of shock, which Tails reciprocated.

Several seconds passed tensely as they stared at each other, unable to move or speak. One of the men, however, finally snapped out of it and did the latter in a panicked, angry voice. "_¡Atraparlo!_"

Tails saw the men run towards him while reaching for their guns, and in an instant his mind went on autopilot. Without even thinking, he leaped over the crate, spun his tails above him and launched himself forwards. Even without revving them up first, he still moved fast enough to knock down the guy nearest to him, who then fell down onto the one behind him, and then another. A few of them were agile enough to either get down or dive out of the way, but nobody managed to fire a shot. One of them, though, had enough time to do something else.

"Stop or I shoot him!" another voice shouted in accented English, coming from the right. It stunned Tails enough that he barely managed to slow down enough before his tails collided with the rear doors on one of the vans, denting them badly. Still hovering in midair, the fox looked to where the voice came from.

The same man who ordered everyone to be quiet earlier had dragged the now conscious guard out of the way and was now pointing a pistol at his head while kneeling down. His target, still lying on the floor, had his hands raised and trembling in front of him as his fearful eyes met Tails' blue ones.

"Get down or I shoot!" the man said again loudly, sounding more confident now, while pressing his weapon's muzzle deeper against the guard's temple with his finger clearly on the trigger.

They were at least fifteen feet away. From his present position Tails could easily fly towards the gunman and knock him out…unfortunately there was no guarantee that the pistol wouldn't go off in the process. It was too risky. Ideally, Sonic could rush in and disarm him from his side, but he obviously wasn't coming here.

Now out of ideas, Tails had no choice but to comply. His namesakes stopped spinning and he landed on the concrete floor with his feet. This was followed by the sounds of a few guns clicking and people moaning in pain around him.

"Don't try anything," the man warned as he pulled the guard up by the back of his collar, the gun still placed on the latter's forehead for emphasis. He then gave an order to his men, or at least the ones still conscious, in Spanish. Once he finished, Tails felt his hand being forcefully pulled by one of the goons, allowing him to guess what he just said. As he was whisked away at gunpoint, he couldn't help but return the guard's stare, his eyes full of regret, sorrow and apology.

* * *

><p>Doherty closed the car door and walked out of the garage into the living room, tossing the car keys into the nearby basket as did so. The TV was on, and Sonic was sitting on the couch directly across it, watching a weather report. The hedgehog turned around to face Alan in response to him walking in. "Wow, pretty late today," he remarked with a smile. "How was work?"<p>

"Okay. Not much progress, as usual," Alan replied while he took his jacket off, sounding fed up. "You actually watch the weather reports?"

"Sure, why not?" Sonic sounded surprised at the question. "I mean, I spend most of my time outdoors. It's handy to know how it's like for the next few days, makes my planning easier. And you know, that reminds me, if Tails doesn't come back soon, he's gonna be caught in a big rainstorm that's coming up. I forgot to tell him abou-"

"Wait a second," Alan interrupted, sounding concerned, "you mean Tails hasn't come home yet?"

"Nope," Sonic answered frankly, "said he was coming home later today, around eight or so…" He took a quick glance at the wall clock showing eight-thirty. "Huh. Maybe he had to do more than he thought. It's happened before."

Both of them were silent for several seconds before Alan started walking, heading to the dining room. "Alright, we'll give him a few more minutes. I'll give him a call if he's still not here."

"Righto. It should be soon, I don't think he'd want to miss what Cheryl made tonight…" As Sonic spoke, a deep rumbling could be heard in the sky outside. "…and I'm also pretty sure he'd want to miss _that_."

* * *

><p>Tails and the guard found themselves locked inside a small, stuffy room on the second floor, each tied to a wooden chair by their arms and legs. Additionally, the fox's namesakes were also tied up against each other, tightly enough that he worried that the blood flow inside could be cut off soon. They had seen what he could do with them and were fully aware it was in their best interest to make sure they couldn't be used.<p>

They were watched over by two men carrying Skorpion SMGs who had been ordered to stay behind to do so while the others left, likely to load the cargo into the vans and drive off. Both of them stood near the door with their arms crossed and lips pouting. It seemed that they weren't supposed to kill…not yet anyway.

No one said a word. The fox looked at everyone in the room in the eyes, all of whom stared back with similar degrees of surprise, before glancing downwards at his lap. He struggled in the chair against the ropes, causing the two men to eye him cautiously, fearful that he'd do something strange, but then he stopped and hung his head. Confident that even Miles 'Tails' Prower couldn't break out of their binds, they put on self-satisfied smirks.

They were almost right. Right before Tails was about to give up and go on another silent self-blaming tirade, he discovered something, but quickly stopped moving to give the impression that he hadn't. The bind around his namesakes was tight, but there were only a few coils of it. If he braced them hard enough, he could possibly force the bind downwards until they reached where his tails were connected to his body, allowing him to move them freely.

It nearly made him smile, but he managed to suppress the reaction in time, not wanting to cancel out their error with his own. Now what he needed was a way to keep them from watching him. Tails glanced at the guard, who glanced back, sweat flowing from his blond hair. "I can…you…you think they speak English?" he asked hesitantly while subtly twitching his tied up tails, hoping he got the message.

"One of them outside does," he replied with a soft, gravelly voice. "Not sure about these two…only one way to find out. Hey, you!" he said after turning to them. "What's your mother's name, huh? What's your mother's name?"

"_¿Qué?_" the one on the left replied, having apparently understood. Both walked up closer to the guard, glaring at him harshly. Tails saw his opportunity and took it.

"You know what? I think I know what her name is already. P.N. Dejo. Get it?" A smile actually cracked on the man's face.

The two men paused for a moment before one of them landed a punch on his face. "_¡Te voy a meter uma leche!_"

"That's the best you got?" he responded, ignoring the pain and still grinning. "My mother spanked me harder than that. Looks like yours should have taken some lessons there, maybe then you wouldn't end up in this job-"

Another punch, and this time the other guy decided to join in. They managed to land several blows on him before they realized what was really happening, but it was already too late.

The next thing they knew, Tails and the chair that he was tied to were both flung, or rather just flew, straight towards them, crashing them against the wall and causing the wood, possibly a few bones as well, to break completely. The two men dropped to the ground and lay there motionlessly.

One of his arms now freed, Tails fell onto the floor and untied the ropes on all of his limbs and the base of his namesakes, before moving onto doing the same with the guard. "Nice job, kid. Sorry for the lame jokes there," he said while grimacing.

"They worked, that's all that matters," the fox hurriedly replied. "Are you okay?"

"Peh, if that really hurt, I wouldn't be having this job," he replied dismissively as he got up. "Name's Frank. Let's get out of here." He bent down to pick up one of the Skorpions, flipping the safety off.

Tails opened the door into the corridor, showing that it was empty. "You know this building?" he asked.

"Not really, actually. I work at another block, was just walking back to my truck when I saw something weird about these guys, so I wanted to check it out."

"They're storing something big here and definitely moving it out now. We gotta hurry," the fox said, gently opening the door at the end of the corridor, which led into another one. Feeling certain that they were headed in the direction of the loading bay, he dashed around the corner and ahead to the next door while Frank watched behind them with the gun raised.

He turned the knob, pushed the door ahead and almost gasped to see one of the goons down yet another corridor, though fortunately with his back turned towards them. Tails turned to face Frank with his finger to his lips before gesturing that he'd take him down.

As he was about to move however, a beeping sound suddenly came from underneath his left glove, stunning him and causing the goon to turn around. He was greeted with a tail whip straight to the face, with the fox doing so propelled mostly by his reflexes.

"That was close," he remarked with a pant, making sure that the man was really down before answering his wrist device. "Yeah?"

"Tails?" Sonic's voice asked. "Where are y-"

"Sonic," Tails interrupted quickly but quietly, feeling relieved to be talking to him now, "something's happened, I'm in a warehouse in Burbank somewhere, there're gangsters transporting military hardware and…is Alan there? This is urgent."

"Um, yeah, hold on," Sonic replied in a confused and worried tone before passing the phone.

"Tails?" the new, familiar male voice answered, "what the hell-"

"Alan, listen, there's no time, there's a guard here who got captured with me, he can give you the address, and you have to send people here, okay? Ready?" he spoke very rapidly before taking the device off and handing it to Frank.

"Uh, yeah, hello?" Frank said, holding the gadget in one hand in front of his face, unsure if he was using it correctly.

"This is Alan Doherty of the FBI, who are you and what is going on?" the polite and authoritative voice asked urgently, not trying to hide any concern.

"I'm Frank Roth, a security guard, but not for this building. Tails saved me from some unsavory types I was checking up, but we're not out of here yet."

As Frank continued to speak and give the address of the location, Tails gently opened the door in front, which led to a long steel-floored balcony overlooking the loading room. Some noise could be heard downstairs, mostly from the men loading the boxes into the vans.

Then he heard another one that almost froze him still. This one came from above, through the walls and ceiling. A muffled but still audible rumble of thunder. _Oh, I hate storms_…

"Psst," a voice whispered from behind. It nearly made him jump, though he managed to stop himself at the last millisecond. He turned around to see Frank holding out his wrist device to him. "He says he's coming right over with help."

Tails took it from him and wore it back on. "Got it," he replied with a nod, "thankfully. Now I need to handle those guys downstairs so that they don't take those things out of here."

"You sure you don't need help?"

The fox shook his head as he prepared to spin his tails. "I think I got from here. I hope."

* * *

><p>"You know where it is, Sonic?" Alan asked as he grabbed his jacket and keys, dashing to the garage.<p>

"Uh, not really, to be honest. I'll follow you there." Sonic sounded regretful saying that. He really should be reaching there first to help his best friend out. Instead, the fact that he'd never glanced properly at a map of this area was going to cost him that opportunity.

Fortunately, Alan had an idea. "Get in the car and I'll show you on the GPS, then maybe you can get there first," he simply suggested as he opened the garage door and started the engine. "Come on!"

"Right!" Turning off the TV, the hedgehog leapt off the couch and across the room, something he normally wasn't supposed to do, and within a moment slipped himself into the front passenger seat.

Alan multitasked by rapidly typing in the address in the dashboard GPS while reversing the Chrysler out onto the street much faster than usual despite the heavy rain. Barely even remembering to close the garage door, he pressed the pedal hard. With a loud roar emanating from the V8, the vehicle took off.

"Remember, I'll be sending Warner and the police there too. Get it now?" Alan asked impatiently, pointing at the screen while skillfully navigating a corner as fast as possible.

Sonic looked at the directions shown a little longer before nodding. "Yeah, thanks. See you there!" he said before pressing a button to open the side window.

"Be careful!" Alan reminded loudly right as the hedgehog jumped out and landed on his feet, which quickly propelled him ahead of Alan. Sonic may not have liked water much, but he liked the idea of Tails in danger even less, and all that time he spent practicing to run in the rain was going to pay off now.

Closing the window to stop the water from pouring in, Doherty quickly initiated a phone call with the car's communications system. It was answered two beeps later. "Ryan Warner."

"Ryan, it's me. You at home?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you need to get your ass back out there now. There's a situation and you're nearer to it, I need you to get there and find out what's happening, possibly assist Sonic in the process, because I might not make it in time. Call 911 too…"

* * *

><p>Smack! The last of the group was sent tumbling on the floor after being hit by what Tails called a dive bomb. He stopped spinning his namesakes and landed on the floor in the middle of a bunch of incapacitated goons, none of whom saw him coming from the balcony. Frank could be heard whistling in wonder as he observed what the fox did while dropping down from the balcony, which wasn't that tall, to the same floor.<p>

It didn't occur to Tails to gloat or crack one-liners, though. He was worried that there were still more people in other parts of the building. "Keep watch on the doors there," he told Frank. The man nodded and moved to the other side of the room where there were no additional doors. There, he kept his gun aimed at the stairwell Tails had come through before while hiding behind a pillar and also keeping an eye out on the balcony.

The next thing Tails noticed was the crates, all of which were already loaded in the vans. he knew these crates had to stay here for police investigation purposes. _But how…wait_. He went around one van and glanced at the tires, judging their height. After doing so, he whipped his tails forwards with sharpened edges, puncturing one before moving onto the next one.

Within thirty seconds he managed to slash all eight tires. "Whatcha doing that for?" Frank asked.

"Just a precaution," Tails said as he pressed the switch, causing the roller shutters to open and allow the rain noise in, "now let's get out of-AH!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a bright bolt of lightning followed by an exceptionally loud crack of thunder outside assaulted his senses, shocking him so badly that he actually fell down backwards.

Tails lay on the floor panting rapidly, eyes wide open and blank. He had never heard thunder _that_ loud before, and he silently cursed about how it just had to come now, of all times.

Frank quickly appeared before his eyes, looking shocked as well. "What happened?" he asked worrisomely. "Are you shot or something? You okay?"

Getting his breath under control, the fox managed to nod. "I-I'm fine. Just keep watch on the doors!"

Remembering what he was supposed to do, Frank was about to get back up and help Tails do the same before the sound of another crack rang out. This one didn't come from outside, though. It was a gunshot. Tails heard Frank cry in pain, and froze yet again.

At the far end of the room, three men had entered while Frank had been focusing on Tails, and one of them now aimed a pistol straight at them, smoke emanating from its muzzle. Frank collapsed on the floor next to the fox, clutching his now bleeding abdomen with a clear expression of pain.

The three men walked up close, all with guns in their hands. One of them went to close the shutters while another glanced at the slashed van tires. His expression grew steadily from annoyance to anger, which he decided to vent right now.

Frank's face got smacked for the umpteenth time tonight as he and Tails got dragged away back into the corridors. "You two have caused us a lot of trouble tonight, especially you," the goon warned Tails harshly, "now you will see what we can cause back to you."

* * *

><p>Visibility in this rain wasn't exactly good, which slowed Sonic down more than he liked. Now standing under an awning, he was sure he was on the correct street now, but as he frantically looked around, he despaired to find out he couldn't exactly determine which building it was. So close, yet so…<p>

A honk behind him caught his attention. A different vehicle was driving up to him, a Suburban, which then stopped next to him. Its engine and headlights were promptly turned off, and the driver frantically stepped down from the SUV. "Good to see you here," the man said as he hurried to the rear cargo door and opened it.

"Ryan, right?"

"Yeah. Alan and Burbank PD should be here soon," Warner said as he took out a bulletproof vest and put it on, "though we can't wait for the rest of the Bureau, no way will they get here in time with this weather and traffic." He pulled the charging handle on an MP5 before wearing his FBI jacket. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I was waiting for you," Sonic replied impatiently.

"It's this building, follow me. We'll enter through the back," he said as began to move out, with Sonic following behind for once.

They were brought into a larger room this time, also on the second floor. Both of them were tied to wooden chairs the same way once again, but with two key differences: Tails' namesakes were now tied against his body, and his mouth was gagged. As if that weren't enough, the men also now stood right in front them, each taking turns to throw punches at their captives.

Frank was no longer in any shape to hurl any insults back at them, and grunted in pain every time a punch hit him while his gunshot injury continued to bleed. Tails took the blows more silently, but that didn't mean it hurt less for him. If anything, it hurt more. His guilt was what ate away at him primarily - the angry punches he received were just rubbing salt in the wound. That an actual one had prominently appeared on his forehead did not help.

They stopped hitting him, and one of them began to speak. Even though Tails didn't understand the words, the venom in his voice was unmistakable. "_El nos conto todo sobre ti_," he said, unable to resist adding a smirk. _"¿Dónde está tu héroe Sonic ahora, eh?_"

Just then the door opened, and a frantic looking goon poked his head in, informing the others of something that seemed critical.

"_¿Qué?_" was the surprised reply. The man in front of Tails quickly ordered the ones messing with Frank out of the room to deal with whatever just came up. Then he glared at the confused and petrified fox again with suspicious looking eyes. "_Tu,_" he snarled.

The goon raised his fist in preparation to hit the kid again until a few gunshots were heard outside, stopping him. Hearing several thumps on the corridor floor, followed by rapid footsteps, he immediately knew that trouble was coming. He quickly whipped his pistol out and repositioned himself behind Tails, facing the double doors.

Special Agent Ryan Warner appeared at the door opening with his weapon up. "FBI! Freeze! Put your weapon down!" he shouted.

But the goon was already prepared for that. His pistol's muzzle was planted on the side of Tails' bleeding head, and the poor fox was giving out muffled cries of pain and panic. "Come close and I shoot!" he shouted back in English.

More gunshots rang out. They didn't come from Warner's MP5, but from behind him. Ryan's face crumpled in pain and fell to the side, which was then followed by Tails attempting to cry out in shock while his eyes widened further, and then more gunshots, this one from yet another gun at one end of the corridor, there was another thump on the ground and a familiar male voice crying "Ryan!"

"I-I'm fine. But you gotta save them inside!" Warner replied, pain clearly in his voice, but urgency even clearer.

At the opposite end, there was the sound of even rapider footsteps and another person getting hit by something that moved very fast.

Two familiar figures emerged at the opening. Alan Doherty had his Smith & Wesson up, aimed straight at the goon behind Tails, while Sonic the Hedgehog had a look of alarm he seldom had. "Tails!" he cried out.

"Come close and I shoot!" the goon repeated, dragging the fox with his chair even further back. Tails was undoubtedly terrified, but his captor also no longer had the same confident, self-satisfied tone he had earlier.

"The police have surrounded this building. Give the hostage and yourself up, and we will not hurt you," Alan said forcefully in Spanish, doing an amazing job of masking his own worries about this incident.

"_¡No!_" the goon replied. "They'll kill me. _He_'ll kill me!" He jabbed the muzzle of his pistol against Tails' head again. He really wasn't going to let go of him.

"This is your final warning," Alan continued to say, his voice and gaze razor sharp, "put down your weapon, or _I_'ll put it down for you. I can do that, you know."

"Alan, I can take him, I can take him, just keep talking," Sonic said, though he didn't sound so sure. "Hang in there, bro!"

"Either I get out of here with him, or both of us die. No alternatives!" he declared.

"You really think so?" Alan asked, staring at him intently in the eyes. "You _really_ think so?"

Exactly as he wanted, the goon stared back hard. "Yes, I think-"

This was the moment. Confident that the goon was more focused on Alan, Sonic pushed his feet against the wall and shot forwards. Right before colliding, his hand grabbed the goon's and forced the gun with it upwards. It fired, and the 9mm bullet whizzed out, fortunately into the ceiling rather than the fox's head, though the fact that it happened so nearby was definitely not good for his ears, and even worse for his resolve.

The hedgehog tackled the man to the ground and punched his lights out in a frenzy. After a while, he finally stopped and calmed down with a deep breath. It was finally over. _Finally_.

He turned his attention to his friend and united him. "Tails, you okay?" he asked in a soft voice. The fox was hyperventilating, however, as he stared at Frank in horror, who was no longer conscious.

Doherty was still fully in duty mode. He hurriedly spoke into his radio. "This is Doherty. We have three wounded up here, one's been shot in the abdomen, another took it in the vest. We need those EMTs immediately, godammit."

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, Sonic, Tails, Alan and Ryan were all gathered at the front roller shutters. Various police cars and ambulances were on the open loading field with their red and blue lights flashing brightly. Frank and many of the incapacitated goons were being rushed into the latter, while Ryan was being looked at by some EMTs.<p>

"Son of a bitch, what the hell were they loading here?" Doherty wondered out loud, looking over the now opened crates that were removed from the vans with punctured tires. He wasn't a technician, but it was obvious to him that these GUN military components didn't belong in the hands of a bunch of gangbangers.

For now, though, there was a more immediately pressing matter at hand. He turned to Sonic and Tails. "You okay?"

It almost seemed like a rhetorical question. Tails looked anything but okay, still visibly shaking, head and ears all bent downwards while breathing deeply. Sonic had his arm around the fox's shoulder, trying his hardest to coax him.

Two EMTs approached the duo, wanting to check the wound on Tails' head, but they didn't get the chance. He suddenly tore himself out of Sonic's grip and dashed away, spinning his namesakes in the process and taking off into the air after eight steps.

"Tails? Tails! Hey!" Alan called out as the fox got further and further away, disappearing into the starry night sky.

Sonic also stood there with a look of surprise for a moment. Then he started moving as well. "I'll go after him!" he said to Doherty while rushing out himself.

"Alright, you do that! Take care of him!" Before he finished speaking, Sonic had leapt over the police cars, following Tails to the only place he could have gone.

* * *

><p>The rain had reduced to a small drizzle, allowing Sonic to reach the Doherty residence faster than he left it earlier. The hedgehog hastily stepped through the front door, which was open and swinging.<p>

Alicia and Cheryl were on the couch, and the news report on the TV was showing the messy scene that Sonic and Tails had just left. "Sonic?" Alicia said, sounding worried.

"Hey, is Tails here?"

"Yes, he just rushed in, went upstairs and slammed the door," Cheryl explained. "I swear I saw tears in his eyes. Something's happened to him, Sonic. You have to talk to him."

"I know what to do," the hedgehog replied before carefully running up the steps.

He approached the door to their shared bedroom. As he stopped in front of it, he could hear a soft sobbing coming from inside. At first he thought of knocking and calling out Tails' name, but decided not to. He turned the knob.

Miles 'Tails' Prower was sitting cross-legged in the corner of the room facing the wall, hands clutching his face while shaking badly and sobbing profusely. He did not respond to Sonic's entry.

"Tails?" the hedgehog called out very gently. He decided that it was redundant and possibly insulting to ask "you okay?" again, so he said instead, "what's wrong?"

The fox abruptly turned around to face Sonic, revealing a muzzle wet from both the rain and the tears, and that his forehead and normally sky blue eyes were red for different reasons. "I-I don't know, how about…how about _everything_!" he spat out before sobbing again.

"What?" Sonic couldn't help but ask.

"I just…if it were you all the bad guys would just have been beaten up, the cargo secured and that's it! Instead it was me, so I have to keep screwing up, get captured, escape, screw up again because I'm so scared of lightning, and get two people shot, one being Alan's best friend and the other's probably going to die because of me! Because of all my errors!" he added before another sob and deep breath. "And…and…and…"

"What is it?" Sonic said calmly as he held Tails' shoulders. "You can tell me. It's okay."

Tails nodded while wiping away another tear. "And it's just…they tied to a chair and beat me up while insulting me…it just…it brought back bad memories, you know? The worst," he answered more quietly.

"I…understand," Sonic said. He was struggling to find any more words to comfort him.

Fortunately, he found an action instead. He wrapped his arms hard around his friend, which was returned immediately.

They stayed in each other's embrace for a silent moment that felt a lot longer than it was, with Tails continuing to sniff.

An interruption came in the form of a beeping sound coming from Tails' wrist device. Reluctantly, the fox took a glance at it before taking it off and handing it to Sonic. "I…it's Alan," he said, the worry apparent in his eyes. "I-I don't want to know what else I did wrong, if Frank-"

"It's okay," Sonic reassured, "I'll talk to him." He took the device and put it to his ear, walking to the other side of the room. "Yeah?"

Tails' arms grabbed each other tightly while his namesakes wrapped around his waist. He was certain it was bad news. It definitely was.

Sonic simply listened and didn't say anything until the end. "Oh, okay. Alright, I will. See you later," he said before Alan hanged up. Then he walked back to the worried fox with an expression that was hard to read.

"He's dead, right?" Tails asked with a sniff while looking at the ground. "Right?" He sounded ready to crack again.

This was when Sonic broke into a smile. "Nope," he replied gladly. "He's shot, but he's going to pull through. And he actually has a message for you."

This caused Tails to look up. "R…really?"

"Yeah. He said that despite what happened, you still saved his life and helped him reveal what they were hiding. Oh yeah, and that you were actually pretty awesome, and just need to be more careful next time." Sonic's smile seemed to grow. "One more thing, Alan's also really thankful to you. What you found may be the breakthrough he's been looking for after all."

Tails blinked. "But Ryan...Alan...they're not mad at me that Ryan got shot?"

Sonic chuckled. "Of course not! Why would they? Ryan said it was his own fault for not checking his surroundings well enough, and that the bad guys here kinda goofed up big time too."

There was silence again, although the feeling was much less somber now. "Wow, I didn't…" Not expecting any good news at all, Tails' ears perked up. He finally smiled for the first time since the whole incident began, and his namesakes were also waving slowly behind him again. He still sniffed a bit and had to wipe another tear away, but on the whole, he definitely felt better now. "…t-thanks, Sonic."

"Hey, what're you thanking me for? I'm just the messenger," the hedgehog replied, back to sounding like his usual good-natured self once more. He held Tails by his right hand. "Now come on. You're wet and you're still bleeding. I think Cheryl can help out with that."


	4. Chapter 3: Bad News, Intriguing Answers

**Chapter 3: Bad News, Intriguing Answers**

"_¡Idiotos!_" Alfonso Guerrez growled loudly after hearing the bad news, the rage flaring in his brown eyes. "How did they screw this up so badly? They've been there for who knows how long already, how could they have not handled this better? Amateurs!"

They were in their usual secret cave of operations. It looked to be the same poorly lit and unhygienic mess of weapons caches, wooden tables, radios, maps and the like, with the exception of some new additions, among them several boxes of high-tech aircraft components and machine tools that had been coming in over the past few months. A combination of cunning arrangements, lax cargo inspections and several greased palms at the Port of Adabat City meant it hadn't been particularly difficult to get them here.

And they still screwed it up.

"It is a shame Sonic's pesky friend interfered at this stage," another man's voice remarked, "but I knew either one of them would do so eventually. It doesn't matter. We already have enough of what we need. Now we just move the timetable up and make sure Mayes takes the fall and keeps his mouth shut."

Guerrez strode up to the fat scientist who said so and glared at him. "Yes…but what about Sonic and his fox friend? Now they are aware something is wrong. They could bring this all down any minute," he said in a softer but worried voice.

Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, who was busy attaching some electronic components together at a table and annoyed by how close Guerrez had walked up to him, turned around to face the self-proclaimed leader of the revolution. "Perhaps," he began, sounding oddly calm, "but I work pretty fast too. They may discover the connection to Adabat soon, but that doesn't mean they'll know I'm involved, or where this place is. Adabat is not that small. By the time they do, it'll be too late for them to do much. I mean, just look at _this_. I alrea-I mean, _we_ already made a lot of progress, have we not?"

Guerrez folded his arms with a grunt and tilted his head upwards slightly to get a better look of their prize. Before them, in the largest and most spacious portion of the cave which they had dug out recently, was none other than the biggest and newest addition to their arsenal of all: two X-1 unmanned multirole fighter jets. One of the most advanced in the world, and just a few hours ago, they belonged to their enemy's air force. Now they were their own. The leader had to admit he truly didn't believe Robotnik could pull this off. But the results of his work so far were quantifiable and undeniable. He really knew what he was doing. "Point taken," he admitted.

"Besides, you handpicked the men to do the job yourself, and said that they would definitely not break under interrogation, have you not?"

There was another noticeable silence. "Yes, I did," Guerrez finally answered. "Very well. How long more will you need?"

Robotnik simply grinned madly in response. "Less than twenty-four hours."

With an indifferent nod, Guerrez turned to walk away, and motioned for others to follow. Everyone except one short, skinny man left. Robotnik realized it was Alejandro Guerrez, Alfonso's own brother.

Alejandro stood there watching Robotnik work without saying a word, and the mad scientist had enough of that. "What?" he asked in annoyance.

"I just wanted to remind you," the diminutive man said quietly, "that we have your back. In the few months that you have been with us, you have done far more for us than in the few years Alfonso has been our leader. That he blamed others except himself for the faulty planning in this parts smuggling operation is just the latest of his mistakes. Nobody is saying anything loudly, but my brother is losing supporters every day, both out there because of the military, and in here because of him." He leaned in closer to Robotnik's ear. "We will let him have his final, self-indulgent moment of glory. Then we can finally replace him with real leadership – a real leader."

* * *

><p>Everyone had breakfast together the following morning. They sat at the dining table, Sonic and Tails next to each other on one side and the Dohertys on the other as usual.<p>

They ate slowly, though Tails was noticeably slower, taking small reluctant bites out of his pieces of toast. "Honey, are you alright?" Cheryl asked him gently in order to break the ice.

He sighed before replying quietly, "I'm okay."

"Does it still hurt?" She asked further, referring to the wound on his head that she had already treated and neatly bandaged.

"I just have a slight headache, other than that, no, not really. Thanks again for helping me," he answered, but then he sighed again and stared at his food. "Unless you're referring to, you know, that other thing…"

There was a pat on his shoulder that came from the side. "Aw, come on, bud, I thought you were over this yesterday," Sonic chimed in with a smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to cry again or anything," Tails quickly assured, "it's just, well, the whole thing…left a bad taste in my mouth. Sorry, but…it's gonna take a while for me to get over that." His ears folded downward again.

"I can help to speed that up," Alan said matter-of-factly. "Thanks to you yesterday, we managed to nab some of those goons alive. We'll be interrogating them to find out who they are, how exactly did they obtain those GUN components and why, and likely pay GUN's CEO a visit as well. Tails, you may have just helped to push the first domino in the set," he continued as he finished up his ham and got up from his seat, "don't let the fact that things didn't go as smoothly as you wanted last night make you forget that. People make mistakes, and from what Frank told us, it looks like those guys yesterday made way bigger ones than you did."

"Frank…how is he?" Tails quickly asked, sounding concerned.

"He'll be fine. If it weren't for you, they would have killed him and hid the body where nobody would ever find it," he added as he slipped on his jacket.

"Okay. What about Ryan?"

"Also fine. Look, I gotta go. Seriously, just don't worry so much. Sonic, help him a little, will you?" he asked, sounding almost annoyed, before walking off.

"Well, we have to go too," Alicia said as she got up, gathering all of the empty plates on the table except that of Sonic and Tails, before walking over to place them at the sink. "Cheer up, okay, Tails?" she told the fox with a sincere smile.

"I…I will," Tails replied, doing his best to smile back as well. "Thanks, and have a good day!"

"You too, bye!" she said as she walked out of the dining room, took her bags up and followed her mother, who also turned to wave at the duo first, out through the front door before it closed.

A few silent minutes later, Sonic and Tails finished their own breakfast, and the latter was the one who decided to wash the dishes. "Seriously though, you feel better?" the hedgehog asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Tails answered, his ungloved hands wiping the plate with the sponge.

"So whatcha doing today?"

"Hmm, maybe just use the computer, if only to get my mind off of that…hey," Tails said, remembering something, "I should look up some information about GUN and their products. That way maybe I'll understand why those people wanted that cargo yesterday," he continued as he finished his cleaning job and turned off the water.

Sonic looked thoughtful as well. "Hmm, yeah, actually that's a good idea."

Wiping his paws dry with a towel, Tails put his gloves back on before stepping down and away from the stool. "Sonic, those components are supposed to be installed on some sort of aircraft," he said, sounding serious now, "a really advanced kind too. There're just too many questions, Sonic, like what Alan said. I think I should start looking now. It's only fair I play my part."

"Sure thing, bud," Sonic replied as he accompanied Tails up the stairs. "It's just that before everything happened yesterday, I thought I, or we, would go out or something."

"We'll go out one day, Sonic," Tails replied sincerely, "I promise. But not now."

* * *

><p>"You're kidding me," Doherty said in disbelief as he hurriedly strode down the corridor after being informed of the latest news from Adabat – the worst so far. "<em>Two<em> planes?"

"Two of them," Warner replied, shaking his head. His chest was still a bit sore from last night's incident, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "Their X-1s went down just like that, in the middle of the night, in the deepest part of ARA territory, and they can't find them back."

"The guys we caught yesterday? Have we interrogated them?"

"Not yet. They're in the holding rooms and McLaughlin says we can begin anytime. Although I gotta tell you, Alan, many are already suspecting they're ARA, or at least, that they work for them. We can't confirm their membership yet, but nearly all of them have Adabatian accents."

A worried nod. "And what do we know about the parts they were trying to transport?"

"We still need confirmation from GUN's own people, but considering what just happened with that plane of theirs…" He shrugged.

Alan stopped walking altogether. "Okay, let me try and piece all this together," he said impatiently, raising his hands in front of him, palms faced forwards. "We find out that a bunch of advanced GUN aircraft components were being transported last night by a bunch of Spanish-speaking jackoffs, and a few hours after that, two of the planes that those parts could be installed in go missing mysteriously during a test flight, last spotted in an area that belongs to their worst enemy, and their Air Force can't confirm if they've been destroyed or not." He eyed his friend hard. "Calling that a coincidence is like calling Sonic a swimmer. And Jesus, how do we keep letting them into our country?"

"One thing I don't get, though. If the ARA really now has X-1s in their possession, what are those parts for? The plane flies well enough on its own. And that aside, how exactly are they supposed to install them? Last time we checked, they're literally hiding in caves. You'd need pretty advanced machine tools for that kind of work."

"Those parts are most likely upgrades or something. As for installing them…" Alan pondered that point for a moment and came to the only conclusion he could think of. "Unless they already have those tools."

"And someone that knew how to use them, right?" Warner added. They both knew which 'someone' they had in mind. "And to bring down those planes in the first place, even."

Alan almost turned pale at the thought. "Goddammit, we're wasting time. I'm going to interrogate those assholes now. You report everything we know to McLaughlin."

"Got it. By the way, you want a list of what we know about those guys so far?"

* * *

><p>"Huh," Tails mused as he scrolled through the information on the screen, "this really is serious."<p>

"Whatcha find out?" Sonic, who was lying on the bed beside him, asked curiously, even though he wasn't sure he'd understand the answer he'd get.

"Hmm, where to begin…" the fox wondered aloud before he started on his explanation. "Basically, GUN is a defense contractor several years old, and they've got one product so far called the X-1. It's actually quite impressive, at least on paper. It's a pilotless multirole fighter jet that can reach up to Mach 1.5, and has many features that make it stealthy like the Tornado, so it's harder to detect."

"Alright. On paper, huh? So is there a problem?"

"Well, its development schedule unfortunately had suffered numerous delays and a large cost overrun, and certain parts and features of the plane just weren't holding up, making a lot of people in the industry skeptical over it. And because the company is relatively new, it doesn't have Pentagon backing, which worsens their struggles even more." Tails remembered Keating expressing disappointment over how this project had gone, saying in his usual colorful way that it was 'yet another F-35, except without the U.S. military's teat to suck'. "But all of this was a few months ago."

"Oh? So what happened since then?"

"Apparently, according to some reports, many, perhaps even all of the X-1's flaws were corrected using suggestions that came from the CEO himself, Robert Mayes. Which wouldn't be a problem, except Mayes has no record of being an aerospace engineer; he's always been just a businessman. So some people are wondering how he managed to think of solutions even his best engineers didn't, who, interestingly, are defending their own boss, saying he's always been personally involved with the project."

"That does sound kinda weird," Sonic agreed, "but what does this have to do with what happened yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah. The X-1 has two versions, the main one, which is meant for the US Armed Forces only, and another meant for export. The latter has fewer features compared to the main one, but it's the only one that has gotten orders so far. And one of the countries that had received their planes very recently is Adabat," he continued.

"Adabat? Sounds familiar…" Sonic appeared contemplative for a moment, trying to remember where he'd heard it, which didn't take long. "Isn't that the country where the ARA comes from? The group Alan said tried to steal the Chaos Emerald six months ago and caused his teleportation?"

Tails nodded. "Exactly. And Adabat is geographically the closest country to the U.S. that has ordered the X-1. Also, looking at the blueprints for the two versions of the plane, I'm very sure those parts those people were transporting yesterday are upgrades that change the export version into the full one, which has technology the government considers classified and can't be exported. It's not a stretch to imagine they were ARA members trying to get those parts to a port and ship them to their country."

"Huh. But seeing how you usually work on the Tornado, wouldn't installing those things be really hard work or something? You'd need an expert and a lot of advanced tools," Sonic remarked before he realized something about what he was saying.

"Right. And that's the thing, Sonic," the fox continued in a rather concerned tone, "Adabat's one of the countries that Robotnik could have escaped to if he didn't die that day. And the ARA is well known for having hidden bases in caves and jungles. Remind you of anything?"

"Oh yeah, I remember," the hedgehog quickly said as he snapped his fingers. "Creepy. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Tails replied as he slowly and nervously glanced back at the news article he was just reading. "Hours ago, in the middle of the night, two of the Adabat Air Force's X-1s had gone missing during a test flight. Their last confirmed location was somewhere over ARA territory."

Now that got Sonic's attention, and it elicited a whistle out of him. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Reports say they just suddenly lost control of the planes, as if someone else hijacked the control systems. The trackers were also disabled, so they can't find where they are anymore."

Sonic frowned. "Man…but then…why would they need such a thing? Actually, what's the whole deal with the ARA anyway? That I don't get."

Tails clicked on another tab and paraphrased the information off of it. "The Adabat Revolutionary Army is a far left guerilla army considered by a lot of people to be terrorists, as they're known for being really violent. Apparently, they believe Adabat's present government is too corrupt and controlled by all the big corporations in the country as well as the West, and they want to change that…through any means necessary. So far the conflict between them has lasted for decades, and it seems to have reached a stalemate…for now, anyway. And there are rumors that this lack of progress has caused internal friction and splintering within their group, but there doesn't seem to be much evidence of that."

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Then Sonic asked, "So what can this X-1 actually do?"

"Like I said, it's multirole. That means it can attack both air targets and ground targets. Like the Tornado, actually, though I rarely use the ground attack capabilities, and I'm not sure I really ever will, but it's better to always have it."

"Ground attack as in…bombing buildings in towns and such?" Sonic asked in a quieter voice. His green eyes reflected obvious concern, remembering that it was such an attack that had changed his life completely while he was just five.

The fox nodded somewhat grimly. "Sometimes, yeah."

"So…how would the ARA, you know, use those planes?"

"Well, they've never had such advanced equipment before, but considering their rhetoric and track record when it comes to causing damage, a lot of people are fearing the worst."

Sonic sat up straight on the bed with an unusually worried expression. "To be honest, bro, I think I am already. I mean, if Robotnik really is with them, it seems like something he'd be more than glad to help…perform."

Tails, sensing his best friend's anxiety, placed a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "I know how this affects you," he said sincerely, "I understand. Maybe when Alan comes back, we can discuss it with him. Because I think I have an idea."

* * *

><p>The suspect sat alone at a table in the tidy questioning room, whose surfaces were mostly a dull gray. His hands were placed on his knees, and there was a nasty bruise around his eye, where Sonic had punched him. His expression was blank and unmoving – whatever he was thinking or feeling, nobody but the best body language experts could tell.<p>

Alan Doherty wasn't sure he qualified as one of them, but he did have some experience doing this, at least. He opened the door, calmly walked into the room and immediately laid eyes on the suspect. It was the same guy that had put a gun to Tails' head last night, and whose head Alan himself almost blew off.

Remembering that made the agent bristle, but he didn't show that. This was business, something to be done professionally. The guy could be charged with assault for that later anyway, but there were other questions he had to answer first.

"Antonio Jimenez, correct?" Doherty began in Spanish. "Honestly, I have to give you credit for being able to stay under the radar in our country for so long. Papa Guerrez must have taught you all pretty well," he said in mock respect.

As expected, Jimenez remained silent.

Alan leaned closer towards him, placing his palms on the table. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

The man appeared to look closely at his interrogator for the first time, and he blinked twice. It seemed like he was going to display disbelief, but he held it back, showing no more signs than that. "You're the man who takes care of…those two," he said flatly.

"So you've seen me, huh? Well, I'm not sure whether I should be pleased by that or not," he continued and inched even closer towards Jimenez, "and I sure as hell am not pleased with you holding a gun at Tails yesterday. You know, I honestly don't give a damn what happens to you from now on, whether you end up in a cell, or in hell. Or at least, I wouldn't want to give a damn. But…" he added rapidly in a louder voice, letting his anger out now. In the other room behind the one-way glass, his colleagues watched with concern, hoping the situation was still under control. Under Alan's control.

"But…" he repeated, suddenly lowering his volume, "that's not what I'm here for." He stood up from the table and begun circling the room slowly. "You and your buddies didn't just happen to notice those parts sitting in that warehouse. You've planned all this. Someone left that stuff there and let you take them, possibly for weeks, or even months already. And I know firsthand that security at the ports here are still a joke, which means it's even worse in Adabat City."

Jimenez merely continued to stare at Doherty with a gaze made of stone.

"And we just heard of the latest achievement your Papa did. Only…" Alan stopped moving. "It's not Guerrez, isn't it? Because regardless of how much you respect him, even you have to admit, he's not the technical kind. Nobody in your group is. You've obviously gotten help from somewhere. From someone."

At this point, the suspect simply let out a burst of cold laughter.

"You can't go back to the ARA," Doherty simply continued, ignoring the man's reaction, "you know what Guerrez does to people who disappoint him. So here are your choices. This may not be the 1930s anymore, but we do have additional ways of making you talk. It has always been an option. But here's the thing. We can't do that here, which means we'll have to transfer you somewhere else, if you know what I mean, which could take too damn long. And considering who's helping you out, I don't think we have the time.

"So how about this? You may think he's your best ally at the moment, but take this coming from someone who actually pretended to work with, or for, him once, huh? He's a megalomaniac who cares about absolutely nobody except himself. What, you think he gives a damn about stopping big business or imperialists in your country? You think he'll actually let Guerrez be the leader of Adabat once the revolution is complete? Who do you think is actually controlling the damn planes? The only one? If you actually do care for your people like you claim, especially the poor, you have no reason to defend him at all!"

"_¡Vete al diablo!_" Jimenez shouted, producing emotion for once as his gaze on Alan turned into one of fury, hatred and, oddly enough, confidence. Then he put on a harsh smirk. "He will help us to prosperity! To power! To justice! To equality! Not that weak fool Guerrez! And once he does…" A sinister chuckle. "…you will never be able to touch us again."

Doherty crossed his arms and watched the suspect carefully after he simmered down. This was a rather interesting reaction indeed, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It wasn't much, but…

"It's ironic," Jimenez continued coldly, "that you think he's the only one. We can get to this stage because a part of your own military-industrial complex has turned against you."

That caused Alan to raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"How do you think the cargo ended up in that warehouse? A federal agency like yours should be watching what happens in your own country more often than you watch ours, _hombre_," the suspect continued, his glare now shifting directly onto the one-way glass, "because if you think that's the only place where your enemy is, you're wrong."

* * *

><p>Many hours later, Sonic and Tails heard the sound that they had been anticipating throughout the day coming from downstairs: the characteristic rumble of Alan's V8 pulling in. Both of them scrambled out of the bedroom and headed down the stairs to greet him.<p>

Doherty had just hanged his coat up when the two appeared before him. "Hey," he greeted restlessly.

"Hey," Sonic greeted in return with his usual smile, "anything today?"

Alan stopped to ponder for a while. He had been responding to that question with many variations of 'no' for many months now. For once, he actually had a more solid and tangible answer for the duo. "Yeah, possibly."

"Oh? Really?"

"I interrogated several suspects from yesterday. Their responses were…intriguing, to say the least." Alan unfastened his tie and hanged it up before continuing, "they said no names, but I get the feeling that someone else is now de facto in charge of the ARA instead of their usual leader. You know what that means?"

"Yeah," Tails quickly replied. "You know, come to think of it, we did our own research on the whole thing today, and I looked up some Spanish. Alan, one of the guys that was punching me last night, I think he said something like 'he told us all about you'. It doesn't confirm much, but it's not a good sign, huh?"

"Really?" Alan was wide-eyed at the revelation. "My god, every bit of the truth we're uncovering…it's like a goddamn water tap in a Third World country." He looked downwards and met their eyes properly. "You said you researched all this?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah. We can sit down and tell you about it," he offered.

The three of them went to sit on the couches after Alan agreed, and Sonic and Tails took several minutes to explain what they looked up.

"Looks like you've done your homework," Doherty remarked after they were finished.

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

Alan closed his eyes and grasped his temple hard. "Damn it…a lot of people are worried about how the hell it happened _and_ what the hell could happen now, not least because the only people that have the responsibility for checking into all this, the Adabat Armed Forces and Federal Police, are doing nothing other than holding their dicks, as if waiting for us or something, but we can do nothing until we find out what the hell's up with that warehouse and how that stuff got in there."

The hedgehog got off his couch and walked up to Doherty. "I kinda figured this would be causing a lot of people worries and stress. So, uh, Tails and I actually talked about a plan today. Want to hear it out?"

Alan was curious now. "What is it?"

"Like I said, it's just a plan, nothing solid yet, but I was thinking we could fly to Adabat and check out what's happening, maybe even find those X-1s back."

Doherty responded with a blink. "You serious?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I mean, come on, is it that odd? You helped us do something like that back on Mobius. Going where no one else could go. It's only fair we do the same now," Sonic pointed out.

"Yes, but that was different, I mean…" He let out a sigh. "To be honest I'd like to see it happen too. Could actually make some progress that way. It's just that I don't know what the others would think. Keep in mind that both of you are my responsibility, after all."

"Well…" Sonic thought for a bit, then said, "you could always ask them, right?"

"I'll do that. But Tails, wouldn't you have to do the same with your Air Force buddies?"

Another nod. "Yeah, sort of, though the Tornado is still my plane. Well, Sonic's, but you know what I mean. I share its technology with them as much as I can, and they pay me for it and let me park it there, but I can still fly it anywhere I want, anytime." His gaze grew distant. "Though I suppose they'd find the timing we choose to fly to Adabat a little convenient. Well, it's not like we're going to anything wrong, right?"

"I know, but you still have to think of keeping a low profile. If the ARA or Robotnik catch wind that you're in Adabat before you encounter them, things could get worse."

"We've thought of that," Sonic responded matter-of-factly, "which is why I thought we could go tonight or something. Maybe even after dinner."

Doherty silently considered the option. It brought him both relief and pressure at the same time, making it difficult to think. "I'll have to make a few calls, that's for sure. But just give me a moment, huh?" he said almost pleadingly before falling backwards on the couch to revel in its comfort.

"No problem. I think I'm getting hungry anyway. What's the dinner plan?" Sonic asked.

"I could make something," Tails spoke up. "Maybe even surprise Cheryl and Alicia when they come home."

"Go ahead," Alan simply said with an upward wave of his hand, eyes now closed. "We appreciate it. The dinner and your plan, I mean."

The fox smiled in return. "It's nothing. So I guess I'll get started now," he said before running off to the kitchen.

Sonic was about to turn around and follow when a thought struck him. It was something he had wanted to ask Alan ever since they arrived on Earth, but he could never remember to do so until now. He turned back to face Doherty. "Hey, Al? Sorry to bother you, I know you're tired, but I really gotta ask something."

He reluctantly opened his eyes. "Yeah?"

The hedgehog sat back down on the adjacent perpendicular couch like just now. "It's kinda serious, if you don't mind. Don't know why I only remembered to ask it now."

"Just say it," Alan said impatiently.

"Back on Mobius, right after we saw the flying fortress burst out of the mountain and the buggy bots attacking you, you said something being motivated to right wrongs because of a dead mother." Sonic leaned in closer. "What did you actually mean by that?"

The question caused Alan to sit up straight. He didn't expect to be asked that now. Then again, he didn't expect a lot of things, it seemed. And that outburst last time was something he hadn't explained before.

He took a deep breath before answering. "My mother was murdered when I was twenty years old, and nobody ever found out who did it. My father already died long before that, so I became an orphan. I was really mad at the injustice of the whole thing, that someone could get away with killing her and never be found, so I decided to become a cop, but before that, I joined the Army first." His eyes met Sonic's green ones. "Not expecting that kind of answer, huh?"

The hedgehog didn't know what to say. The question that had been in his head all this time had finally been answered, and he had to admit it was also intriguing. Details aside, it did explain a lot. "Just…thought I'd get it out, that's all. Thanks, I guess. I won't ask further for now."

"You're welcome," Alan flatly responded before dropping back onto the couch again, feeling glad as well that he managed to clear up another secret between them and himself.


	5. Chapter 4: Lessons Learned

**Author's Note: in a blunder of sorts, I just learned that the X-1 is in fact the name of the first supersonic aircraft ever. D'oh. I guess it's somewhat appropriate given the main character, but I still should have looked it up before using it. I shall make a reference to it later to hopefully make up for it. Anyway...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Lessons Learned<strong>

"Alright, I've made the call," Doherty informed Sonic and Tails after coming into the living room, where they have been waiting for hours since finishing dinner, "and, well…it's a green light."

"Hey, that's great!" Sonic said happily, bouncing on the couch as he did so. Next to him, Tails smiled at the news as well.

Alan strode up to in front of both of them. "Okay, now listen up, it's briefing time. This isn't Mobius anymore. You'll have to cooperate with others instead of just waltzing in all by yourself to make this work. Took a while, but I managed to come up with something after discussing with McLaughlin and various Adabat Army contacts.

"So here's the plan thus far. We limit the knowledge of your entry into Adabat to a select number of people in the alphabet agencies here, both of our militaries, and the _Policía Federal_ to avoid alerting the ARA. You will expose yourself to _no_ civilians whatsoever, which means you can't go through any of the random villages in the area, especially since many of the most rural inhabitants are ARA sympathizers.

"What that also means is, Tails, is that you won't be landing at the airport. Not even their airbase either, just in case people who shouldn't be watching that spot see both of you arrive there. Since the Tornado has VTOL capability, you will have to find some isolated place yourself to land it, Tails."

"Done," the fox quickly replied, "it crossed my mind too, so I was looking at some maps and satellite scans of the area today. I found at least five sufficiently flat spots on the mountain range that separates Adabat City from the countryside, just in case some people are camping in any of them. I even got the exact coordinates here," he added, pointing to his wrist device.

Alan was impressed. "Excellent. Once you've landed, you'll proceed on foot, so to speak, and rendezvous with a squad of Adabat Army Special Forces somewhere near the spot where the X-1s were last seen. The coordinates should be transmitted to you during your flight there.

"That particular spot is known to be thick with ARA patrols, which is what's holding back the military, but the SF team should be able to create diversion to allow you to find a tunnel entrance and enter it. We think the tunnels are likely how they moved the planes without making them take off again, so they have to be inside somewhere.

"Once you've found them, it'll be up to you. Ideally, of course, you should be able to knock out as many ARA members as possible inside and get the planes back undamaged, but if you can't, just destroy them and get out of there. It'll be flushing at least $350 million down the toilet, but trust me, if they get to use it, especially considering the person who's likely leading them now, it's nothing compared to what they'll cause.

"So just keep in mind, absolutely nobody else other than who I mentioned should know you're there unless you've destroyed or recovered the X-1s. Any questions?"

Sonic was quick to give one. "What if we find Robotnik?"

Alan paused for a moment and frowned upon being asked that, as if he hadn't discussed that possibility while on the phone earlier. "Well, he obviously needs to be brought in, alive or dead. But I guess you've already made your decision there."

"So, what, I just drag him out of there?"

"More or less," Alan simply replied with a shrug. At this point, Cheryl stepped out of into the living room, and he went up to her side. "I guess that's it for now. Remember to keep in touch."

"Sure, of course," Tails promised.

"Alright, big boy, just one thing before you leave," Cheryl said in a soft manner as she knelt down in front of the fox, which confused him for a split second until he remembered the bandage on his forehead. He stood still to allow her to take it off and examine the wound underneath. "Huh," she remarked, "looks like you've healed faster than I expected. I don't see anything anymore."

"Oh," he said in return, sounding slightly surprised, "that's cool, I guess."

"Both of you be careful out there, alright?" She said gently as she stood back up.

"Don't worry about us," Sonic boasted with his trademark grin as she walked away, "we've done this plenty of times."

Alan felt somewhat skeptical about that, considering the situation they were going into, but he didn't say it. Instead, there was something else he wanted to remind them of. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Regardless of how it goes," Alan said, pausing to sigh before continuing, "please just make sure Robotnik doesn't get away. The situation in Adabat is already quite mild by international standards. I can't begin to imagine him stirring up crap in far more sensitive hotspots."

"Hey, I want him as much as you do, you know," Sonic replied, sounding unintentionally defensive.

"I know. It's just that we take this pretty damn seriously, in case you haven't noticed. Something like what happened on Mobius would be unthinkable."

"It won't happen that way. You have our word," the hedgehog answered in a very sure tone. He kept constant eye contact with Alan, hoping it made the message clearer.

Alan looked away and kept silent for a few seconds. Then he finally said, "okay. I trust you. _We_ trust you."

The hedgehog shrugged before turning around to get to the door. "I guess we better get going, then."

"Yeah. All the best."

"Likewise for your investigation, Al," Sonic wished back with a smile that returned, "likewise."

* * *

><p>The duo arrived at Edwards Air Force Base several minutes later. After a quick game of rock-scissors-paper, it was decided that they'd get there by foot rather than flight, which was just as well, as Tails hadn't done so before. He found it quite interesting, to say the least. On the way, he made sure to call ahead to inform Keating of their arrival and of the circumstances.<p>

Coming through the gate, the fox led Sonic to the hangar where the Tornado was usually placed. There, several technicians including Staff Sergeant Miles Keating were already waiting for him. "Hey, Tails! Nice to see you too, Sonic," he greeted, which made the smiling hedgehog wave in response.

"Yeah. Hope I didn't keep you guys waiting," Tails said politely.

"Nah, timing's just right. You okay, Tails? What you encountered last night seemed pretty messed up," Keating asked in a manner both curious and concerned.

Tails wasn't expecting to be reminded of that incident, and it immediately caused him to pause. "I…um…" he muttered as his ears folded down and a blush formed on his muzzle.

Fortunately, Miles understood quickly, which quickly embarrassed him too. "Oh, yeah, not the best thing to bring up now. Sorry. I'm just glad you got outta there, that's all."

The fox quickly shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. Don't worry, it won't affect me. How's the Tornado?"

"Same as you left her. We did clean up the exterior a bit, if you don't mind."

A glance at the plane showed that it did appear more pristine than it did yesterday. "Wow, you did a good job as usual! I appreciate it," Tails replied gratefully.

"No problem. So you ready to get off now?"

"Definitely," he said with a nod before turning around to face the hedgehog. "Come on, Sonic!"

"About time, I was waiting for you guys," he said, sounding impatient, though luckily not annoyed.

As the two approached the Tornado to climb in, Keating turned around to face everyone else in the hangar. "Alright, people, don't just stand there!" he said loudly in his usual business voice, "we wouldn't want to be like the Adabat Air Force now, would we!"

A few minutes later, the Tornado had taxied out onto one end of the runway, facing south. The weather was clear, visibility was good, and the moon and stars made it a rather bright night, though nevertheless the runway lights still had to be activated.

Having performed his engine run-up and filled out his preflight checklist, Tails was ready. "Tower, this is Spike-1, ready at Runway 5," he reported. The callsign 'Tornado' had already been taken at this base long before their own Tornado ever came here, so he had to settle for 'Spike' instead, not that he had any complaints.

"Spike-1, Runway 5 is clear. Repeat, Runway 5 is clear," the radio replied.

Not that he didn't trust them, but it was still safer to make sure himself. Tails put on his night vision goggles, turned them on and looked straight ahead. Sure enough, there were no obstructions.

It was time. "Tower, Spike-1, requesting takeoff clearance." He had learned that a pilot should only say that if he was absolutely sure he was going to take off, much like aiming a gun only at an intended target.

"Spike-1, you are cleared for takeoff at Runway 5." There was a short pause, and Tails put on the oxygen mask while motioning for Sonic behind him to do the same before Tower spoke again. "Spike-1, the sky is yours."

"Copy, Tower," Tails replied, sounding a bit more overjoyed than he intended. He always liked to hear that. Which pilot didn't?

Hitting the switches and thrust lever, the Tornado's twin rear engines activated with a roar. It would have been more convenient to simply use VTOL mode to leave the area, but he hadn't been able to find anything that adequately serve as spare parts for those thrusters – the Harrier was unfortunately not suitable for this purpose. So he decided against using them anytime he wanted like on Mobius, reserving them only for when CTOL wasn't possible, such as how they'd land later.

The plane began zooming forwards. "Tower, we are rolling," the fox said in an obviously seasoned manner, which amused Sonic.

"Copy, Spike-1."

Tails continued to monitor and adjust his controls. "V-1, rotate…" This was accompanied by a gentle shake of the plane's front nose rising. "…positive climb…gear up. Tower, we are away." Having finished contact with air traffic control, Tails changed the frequency to talk to Sonic. "Alright, Sonic, I guess it's time for our first adventure together on Earth, like I promised."

"You bet!" the hedgehog replied elatedly. "Let's get it on!"

* * *

><p>The Tornado couldn't really reach Mach 3 anymore since he'd changed the engines, but it was still fast enough to reach Adabat in one and a half hours.<p>

Naturally, neither of them was interested in a silent trip there. Minutes after the coast of California disappeared behind them, Sonic spoke first. "You know, I've sort of been wondering about something."

"Hmm?"

"I mean, about how Eggy's possibly working for those guys. As far as I remember, he's never worked with anyone else before, mobian or human, only forced others to do so for him."

"Well, it makes sense, kinda," Tails answered, "Robotnik's lost nearly everything and has to start all over, and so he naturally has to change tactics somewhat, to get back everything he needs and wants, starting from the bottom."

"So maybe he wants to take over Adabat, huh?" Sonic mused. "After everything we've seen of him, it looks so small compared to the areas he usually tried to conquer. But I guess even he has to start somewhere."

"Yeah," Tails agreed. Then he continued in a more concerned tone. "Sonic, I'm feeling kinda anxious about this."

"Hmm?" the hedgehog replied, bewildered.

"I mean, Adabat has a population of three million," he began clarify. "That's a lot higher than we've ever had to deal with. If something really bad happens, if Robotnik strikes…I'm just worried about what could happen to them."

Sonic remained silent at that one.

"And there's another thing, actually," Tails added, "if I understand what Alan said, Robotnik is probably gaining supporters within the ARA."

"You mean like he could become, or already is, the new leader or something?" Sonic suggested.

"Well, I wouldn't say that yet, but…I don't know. It just seems quite disturbing. How'd he do it? It's not like he shares their beliefs or anything."

"I guess he really impresses them, you know? Much like how you're impressing most of the world, people who don't have to be in hiding all the time. Not to mention they both want to be in charge. Looks like that's a good enough reason for either of them."

"Yeah, it's like that, I guess. And it seems that those are the only kind of people Robotnik can associate with on this planet now. If he fails here and escapes, his next plan would likely be to just find and join another similar underground group, maybe even a government, engaged in a conflict." Tails sighed once. He pressed a few keys to activate the autopilot before turning around to face Sonic, still wearing his oxygen mask but taking off his goggles to reveal his concerned eyes. "I think what I'm trying to say, Sonic, is that these are very much like his hidden bases on Mobius. He'll just jump from one warzone to another and get what he can out of it before taking control. Earth may be a lot harder to take over than Mobius from where's he's at now, but he can still gain power in some unstable country and…cause serious problems." He stared even harder now. "Sonic…we really, really have to stop him. And make sure none of that happens."

It took a while for Sonic to digest all this uncomfortable speculation, but when he finally gave his reply, it was with a firm tone of confidence. "Well, _we_'re here, aren't we? We've gotten Eggy and put him in jail before, but it looks like we can trust the ones on Earth to be a lot more secure. It's not out of our abilities. Whatever Robotnik's planning, it's gonna start in Adabat and end in Adabat. I promise you that."

Once he finished speaking, Tails' wrist device started sounding, having received a message. The fox turned to check what it was. As expected, it was the coordinates that they had to go to once they arrived in Adabat. He keyed the numbers into the mapping system on his cockpit controls and found that it thankfully wasn't too far from any of their possible landing spots, at least by their standards. "Well, we know where to go now," he said, "and what to do." He turned back to look at his friend again, and although it wasn't visible under his mask, he was smiling. "I feel better about this now. We can definitely do this together, Sonic."

Sonic the Hedgehog would have preferred to smile back, but with his own mask on, he chose to respond with his other trademark gesture: a wink. "Sure we can, bud. Let's get out there and prove it to them."

* * *

><p>It was almost ten when they finally saw the skyline and lights of Adabat City. Like Los Angeles, none of its buildings were very tall, but it was certainly very colorful. The place was known for its nightlife, after all, which attracted at least a million tourists every year even despite the conflict that the country had been engulfed in for decades. This was mostly because no fighting had ever actually reached the city itself, which had a rocky mountain range to the east that separated it from the slightly less mountainous countryside and jungle the ARA controlled.<p>

Sonic and Tails were aware of their roles. They did not come here as tourists, at least not now. Technically speaking, they were civilian consultants for the FBI. In practice, they knew they were just here to get into action and save lives. And so it was to the mountains, rather than the city, that they went.

Tails slowed the Tornado down and began circling around the first possible landing spot, which was at the top of one of the hills and also the nearest to their rendezvous point. Checking the terrain very carefully with both the mapping system and his own eyes, he determined that it was clear and empty. "Okay, we can touch down here," he informed Sonic.

The plane's vertical thrusters were activated for the first time in months before it started its descent onto the flat, smooth surface. The process took several minutes, and Tails had to repeatedly check that he was dropping onto exactly the correct position, as otherwise the Tornado could easily slip off the slopes to the sides.

The already deployed landing gear hit the ground gently, causing the wheels to make a short screech. Satisfied that he'd done it properly, Tails finally powered down the engines and took all of his facial equipment off. "Thank you for flying Two-Tailed Airlines," he couldn't resist adding with a chuckle as he opened the canopy.

"Should have added an in-flight movie, captain," Sonic quipped in response, causing both of them to laugh.

From their current position they had a perfect view of Adabat City to the west, which continued to glow brightly. Even with their priorities, they couldn't help but take a brief look. It wasn't anything truly spectacular, but it was still a nice image and sign of life. And a reminder of what they had to do here.

"We can come back up here and admire the sights later," Sonic spoke up, sounding more serious again, "but for now let's get down there. You secured the Tornado already?"

"Yep, security measures are activated," Tails replied. The canopy was closed again, and anybody who tried stealing or damaging the plane, if they even managed to come up here first, would be in for a surprise. He checked his wrist device. "Alright, we need to go about a kilometer southeast of here. Want me to fly you down there? This area's pretty hilly."

* * *

><p>"Over there!" the private exclaimed while trying to keep his voice down. He was pointing at a blinking light source several meters in the direction they were facing, among the trees and fauna. It immediately caused all the men on the team to aim their weapons there.<p>

"Wait, wait!" a corporal cried out after he checked the light's surroundings properly through his night vision goggles and saw two very distinctive silhouettes. "It's them. They're here."

"Confirmed, sir, it's both of them," another private added after observing it himself.

The two figures approached their position somewhat rapidly despite the grass and the mud, and very soon they were visible without the goggles. Tails was holding up his left hand to show the light coming from the wrist device, which he had blinked every half a second in accordance with the instructions detailed on the message earlier.

The sergeant ordered everyone to keep their weapons down with a hand gesture before approaching the planet's most famous 'guests'. "Nice job coming early," he said in surprisingly good English, "for a moment we thought the ERA had intercepted our transmission."

"Well, if you encrypted it well enough it shouldn't be a problem, unless Ro…" Tails wanted to mention something about Robotnik having the ability to intercept the military's transmissions and decrypting them, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea. "…uh, never mind. Sorry."

"No problem. I'm Sergeant Pedro Rojas. Thank you for coming to assist us," the dark-skinned man said as he held out a hand, which the two took turns to shake.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, my buddy Tails…but I guess you know that already."

"Indeed. Alright, since you're all here, it's time to brief you on the circumstances. Three hundred meters north of here is the location where the X-1 UAVs are suspected to have been downed and picked up. They have not been seen flying since, which means the ERA most likely has moved it into one of their more spacious tunnels, and that there may be an entrance to it nearby.

"The ERA are fiercely protective of their tunnels, however, and the entrances are usually heavily guarded or fortified. If their defenses fail, their last resort is to detonate explosives to seal the entrance completely. They've continued to do so in all of our previous assaults, so it is safe to assume they will not run out of entrances any time soon.

"That is where you come in. With your exceptional speed, you should be able to get inside before they can use those measures. But since you are not to be seen by any of them until we are sure those planes are either recovered or destroyed, our role is divert their attention elsewhere, or likely just eliminate all of them, and allow you to run into the cave unnoticed. Both of you should have already been briefed on what to do further once you're in there. Understood?"

The whole plan seemed to make sense to the duo, but Sonic did have one question. "Clear as day. Though I just wanted to ask, what about any of them that see us when we run inside? We're fast, I know, but not to the point where we're invisible."

The sergeant responded by simply holding up his rifle while shrugging. "What do you think we're carrying these for?"

That made Sonic and Tails look at each other uneasily. Granted, this _was_ a war, and it hadn't been realistic to expect being able to do a mission like this without loss of life, but it still made them feel uncomfortable.

"Ah, I should mention I have read your profiles," Rojas added, "and I was told to expect such a reaction from you."

"We have…profiles?" Sonic asked, bewildered.

"Of course you do. Your liaison and guardian Doherty has written about you in great detail, and even if he hadn't, it's easy to deduce it by looking at your interviews and actions on this planet so far." Rojas stared closely into the hedgehog's green eyes. "You obviously care a lot about life, and that is respectable. But on Earth, this is how problems are solved sometimes. You can't help it. Certainly you've had wars occur on your own home world too? Now, it is late. I think we've had enough conversations. Follow us, please."

The team began moving out deeper into the woods after that, with Sonic and Tails following them rather than doing things of their own accord for once, not really sure what to make of the sergeant's words. It sounded like something Doherty would say…but they had no idea if that was a good thing or not.

* * *

><p>They had to navigate a few hills as well as lie down and hide among the tall grass twice to avoid passing patrol groups of four or five – there were too many of them close to each other to be eliminated separately. One of them even moved in the direction opposite of theirs, just a few feet away to their left. Fortunately, they weren't the ones with night vision goggles, and they did not look around enough with their flashlights to catch shades of blue and orange fur among the bushes.<p>

Their trek finally came to an end when Sergeant Rojas motioned for everyone to stop and lie down. It was obvious that they were here already. In front of them, down from the small hill they were on now, was a flat patch of grass that was rare and uncharacteristic of this place, to the point where it practically looked almost man-made. It was certainly big enough for two UAVs to land. But where would they go?

Across the grass field, directly opposite of the team's vantage point, was the answer. A large tunnel entrance was there, at the foot of a tall rocky mountain. In front of it was a guard post of sorts with various weapons caches and searchlights, which meant they did not require any night vision to see it. The dark hole had crude, jagged edges, but it had sufficient height and width for an X-1 to go through. How the planes navigated the undoubtedly uneven ground inside was a mystery though. Then again, Rojas reminded himself, so was how the ARA managed to seize control of them in the first place.

"I count eighteen men, sir, five out front, seven hiding among the bushes to the left, six in the trees to the right," a private reported after scanning the area with his binoculars and infrared vision. "But there are most likely many more hiding around here."

"Understood," Rojas replied. He whispered an order to the others in Spanish, which made all but two of them sneakily get up and move away. Then he turned to Sonic and Tails. "Here's what we do now. We will divert their attention to something we have installed to the southeast from here prior to meeting you, which will cause some of their men to leave this position and check it out. Our men are taking position now, and once the ERA patrols are far away enough, the snipers will neutralize the guards remaining at the entrance while our riflemen and support gunners attack the others that will come out from the woods, allowing you to enter without them noticing. If you encounter anyone on your way in, just knock them over unconscious. Are we clear?"

"We understand," both of them said quietly, though it wasn't just because they wanted to stay hidden. They sighed inwardly. Perhaps some people really did have to die for their mission to be carried out successfully.

After a minute of waiting, the sergeant's radio sounded with various voices, to which he replied with something along the lines of 'affirmative'. Each member of the team was in position and ready now.

"Alright, let's give these terrorists something else to look at," Rojas declared firmly. "We have to make it work the first time, otherwise they'll definitely become aware of this tactic in the future. Keep your eyes on the cave entrance and wait for my command." He then spoke into his radio again. "Begin the countdown."

"Affirmative, sir," the crackled reply came. "_Tres_, _dos_, _uno_…"

There was a short pause before it happened. The next thing Sonic and Tails knew, huge red flares suddenly flew into the sky, apparently originating from around the position Sergeant Rojas mentioned earlier. It grabbed their attention, as they were rather loud despite how far away they were.

As more flares continued to launch, the alerted ARA guards were already scrambling to move out and investigate the disturbance. At least eight men began walking cautiously with their rifles up, heading towards the only dirt path that led to this field.

"Don't worry about them," the sergeant clarified to the duo while pointing at the departing guards. "We have another team in that spot ready to ambush them. They won't come back here." Ironically, of course, this only caused Sonic and Tails, who remained silent, to worry about that group even more, since it meant they could not save their lives.

Like the team expected, there were still several men that stayed behind to guard the tunnel entrance. They were looking around cautiously, clearly showing that they felt an attack was imminent, except for one man who appeared to be constantly monitoring some bulky device on a tripod.

"What is that thing?" Tails asked after noticing it using one of the commando's binoculars. "That object on the tripod. It seems to be pretty important."

"Let me have a look," Rojas said, observing it closely through his rifle's ACOG sight. A few seconds later, he almost recoiled in shock as he realized what it was, but before he could mention it on his radio, the snipers had already started firing. "Damn it," he cursed, "it's the Sniper Detection System stolen from that raid two weeks ago! They'll know where we are!"

In the distance, two men instantly dropped to the ground with a somewhat large portion of their heads gone. Neither Sonic nor Tails dared to look closely at that. However, the man monitoring the device was not one of the targets, and he quickly pointed a finger in the general direction of where the team was hiding while shouting to his comrades.

Immediately, the guards began scrambling for cover while returning fire en masse, though fortunately at this range, the SF team was the one with the upper hand as the snipers continued hammering at them. They apparently realized this, however, as another guard emerged from the tunnel entrance with an RPG aimed straight at them.

"RPG, RPG, take him out now!" a rifleman cried out in alarm over the radio. The timing was just right - one of the snipers had just chambered a new round as the RPG-wielder came into the corner of his scope and became the priority target, so he delivered it to him at 2500 feet per second.

The man had almost stepped out of the cave before the .308 shot hit him in the chest. Crying out in pain, the impact caused him to collapse backwards with his hand still holding on firmly to the grip on his weapon, causing it to aim at the jagged ceiling directly above him. It was also at this moment when his spasm caused his finger to push down on the trigger.

The rocket mounted at the front of his launcher shot upwards and struck the ceiling. The wielder himself was consumed by the flames of his weapon's backblast, though even if he weren't, the explosion, or rather, explosions would have done the job. The haphazardly placed explosive charges dug into the rock had begun going off without anyone intending them to.

"Uh oh," Sonic said worriedly as he saw the rocks crumbling while more charges deeper into the tunnel activated, slowly but surely sealing it off. Many of the ARA members had also turned around to watch the scene in horror as they realized they were going to be stuck out here and die at the military's hand.

"This is Charlie Two, we have a premature detonation of the tunnel charges, it's caving in!" Rojas reported in shock.

Watching the slowly shrinking opening very closely, Sonic realized that it was still just big enough for him to get through. There was still time. But if he didn't act now…"Time to change plans," he announced as calmly as possible while getting up, "I'm going in there! Tails, you stay outside and help! I'll try to keep in contact!"

"Sonic, wait!" By the time the fox reacted, the hedgehog had already jumped off the hill and raced towards the collapsing tunnel entrance, not caring anymore about any ARA members that saw him. He was sure Tails could take care of that problem.

He appeared as just a blue streak as he shot past the distracted guerillas and leapt over the rocks before running again, thankfully not remembering that there was a corpse underneath it now. Soon after that, there was no more room for him to stand, and he had to continue by rolling in his usual spinning form. If he had any second thoughts, it was too late to turn back now. Behind him, the front most part of the tunnel had collapsed completely, and more large pieces of rock continued to fall, missing him by just bare inches as he went deeper and deeper into the dark.

The situation was clearly out of control. "_Dios mio_..." Rojas said with his eyes wide, "if they report seeing Sonic to those inside, he'll be in trouble, and so will we! Tails, I need…" He turned to his left to face the fox, only to see that he wasn't there. _Huh?_ As he wondered where he could have gone, since he certainly couldn't have followed Sonic into the tunnel, he and his men noticed that the gunfire coming from the bushes on the left side of the rocky entrance had all stopped simultaneously.

"Did you see that?" a panicking ARA guerilla taking cover behind a rock outside the collapsed entrance asked his comrade. The anger in his voice was rising. "That damn hedgehog is with them! He's on their side!"

"Unbelievable," the other man replied with a similarly rancorous tone, "we must report this in." He held up a radio on his shoulder and hurriedly prepared to speak. "This is Pepez at South Gate. The entrance has been destroyed, we are under attack, and we have confirmation that-"

Thwack thwack! Before he could mention Sonic's name and involvement, he felt a solid blow on the side of his head that seemed to come from up above. It wasn't a bullet, however. As he tumbled to the ground in agony, he saw, with this steadily blurring vision, his own teammate nearby had also been incapacitated, as well what seemed like an orange disk zooming past above him.

Tails had had barely enough time to grab the radio off the man's shoulder after knocking him and his buddy down using his standard divebomb method. He had looked up some human incapacitation techniques online, but there was no time to apply them here with all these bullets flying, and he wasn't sure if he could perform them properly anyway. Regardless, those two still stood a better chance of living than if they were shot.

Without slowing down, he dropped the radio on the grass and headed towards those in the trees to the right, namesakes spinning as fast as possible while seriously hoping none of them had gotten to transmit the information regarding Sonic's presence yet.

_What the hell?_ The fox's actions were supposed to be helping, but in fact it was only making it difficult for the SF team, who were now reluctant to continue firing as a result of Tails charging into the enemy's position. On the other hand, no more gunfire came out of the left or front of the entrance, and the only gunshots heard from among the trees was not aimed at them, but the flying figure that had suddenly appeared before them. Several audible punches, kicks, thumps and collisions later, the shooting halted entirely.

The commandos watched in bewilderment as they saw Tails, still in flight mode, moving the unconscious or disoriented forms of the ARA guards out from the woods to the front of the cave, where the two with the radio were. To reduce the number of trips, he moved two men at a time, grabbing one by the collar in each hand, and saved energy by simply dragging them along the ground rather than carrying them. Then he went to the bushes and did the same with the men there.

About a minute later, all men that were still breathing were placed next to each other out front. His work done here, Tails closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. There was nothing he could do about the three that were shot by the snipers, but he was at least able to do something about these guys.

After they confirmed that no additional hostiles were approaching the area, Sergeant Rojas and a few members of his team stepped out of their vantage point and approached the fox with a less-than-friendly body language and facial expression, with caused him to gulp. "What were you doing?" he asked loudly. "We almost shot you because of your recklessness!"

A recklessness he must have gotten from Sonic's influence, Tails thought. But there was more he'd learned from him other than just that. "I just…had to try and save as many lives as possible, both yours and theirs," he began in a shaky voice, hoping his explanation would be good enough. "I'm just wary about killing, that's all, so I dived in to knock them out non-lethally, or at least I hope it was non-lethal. I'm sorry if I affected you guys, though. And anyway, pragmatically speaking, they had radios that they could use to communicate to the others than Sonic was here," he added, picking up the radio he'd dropped earlier and showing it to them. "I only found two more radios among the other men. Must be quite a shortage they have."

As if on cue, a voice, sounding confused and alarmed, began to speak on the radio in his hand and the ones among the knocked out men, apparently repeating a question several times.

"What's he asking?" Tails inquired. "Did they…are they saying anything about Sonic?"

Rojas listened to the voice more closely for several seconds before he could conclude anything. "He's asking about what this team outside here managed to confirm. Doesn't sound like they managed to report about Sonic in time. I guess your tactic worked," he said before adding a sigh. Looking at the fox's blue eyes closely, he continued, "look, _niño_, I know you two care about others' lives a lot, and you did manage to help us secure a whole bunch of prisoners here. But for God's sake," he snapped, "don't ever do that in front of us again."

"I know I was acting before I was thinking. I'm sorry," Tails admitted while rubbing the back of his head. It was time to change the topic to something more important. "Wait a minute, what about Sonic?"

The sergeant glanced glumly at the collapsed cave entrance. "Well, it looks like he's on his own. Unless you can still contact him with that thing on your wrist?"

Tails quickly looked at his device as he remembered giving Sonic the earpiece before meeting the SF team. "Sonic?" he called out into the transceiver. "Sonic, are you there?"

There was no reply. Tails was starting to get nervous. The extremely low frequencies meant they should still be able to communicate even through tons of solid rock. Unless…"Sonic, please come in!"

Finally, a response could be heard. "I'm here," Sonic replied, his voice scratchy but showing no signs that he was horribly crushed or hurt. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Oh, gosh, I got so worried for a moment there," Tails said, feeling greatly relieved.

"Well, you know me, bud. Takes more than that to challenge me. Hey, how's the situation outside?"

"Uh…we…I managed to take down most of them alive," he decided to say, albeit more out of honesty than pride, "and we're pretty sure they didn't manage to tell anyone else about you. But, well, I think you're on your own for now. How's it look like in there?"

"Wait, give me a minute, will ya?" Inside the cave, the hedgehog, who was lying face-first on the ground, shook off all of the dust on his body. The cave-in had hopefully completely ended ten seconds ago. That was really too close, not that he would admit it.

Sonic was about to get onto his feet when he heard panicking voices in front of him, which made him drop himself onto the ground again. His mind worked quickly. As it was rather dark, he used his hands rather than his eyes to find for some cover, and fortunately, he managed to find a large piece of rock next to the right wall. He quickly scrambled there to hide behind it. Now what he really needed was some light.

It finally came in the form of several flashlight beams coming from deeper in the cave, beyond the rock. He peaked out to the side before quickly shrinking back just as one of them passed by where his face was.

As Sonic began to wonder whether he had enough space to gain momentum and knock these guys out if they checked behind this rock, the beams started moving further away, with the flashlight wielders sounding like they were cursing.

"Alright, I'm safe. It's pretty dark in here," he finally replied, doing his best to keep his voice down and to sound cool and collected. "So I'm undetected, huh? Well, time to see how long I can keep it that way. I'm going in. See you on the other side…wherever that is."


	6. Chapter 5: Not Exactly As Planned

**Author's Note: This is the last chapter I can upload before my university courses begin, so future updates might be slower. Hopefully not.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Not Exactly As Planned<strong>

It took a while, but his eyes finally managed to adjust to the dark. From here, at least, it seemed that the whole stretch of the tunnel was just as cavernous as out front. Was it really all natural, or did the ARA somehow manage to expand it themselves?

Deciding that the question wasn't so important now, Sonic began to move out. He kept his speed down at first, not wanting to make too much noise or run head-on into these rough, jagged wall surfaces. His keen ears could pick up the same voices of the men with flashlights earlier, though they appeared to be moving further away. Perhaps they figured there wasn't much point staring at what used to be their nearest way out.

That was when Sonic realized that he had no way of knowing if there even was a second way out. Nobody other than these guys knew, and even if he did speak their language, what were the chances that they'd tell him? It almost made him nervous, but then he told himself that since this tunnel seemed to stretch on rather far, and the men in front of him, though furious, didn't sound like they were trapped, it was certainly possible that there is another opening somewhere.

He continued moving slowly, which was making him impatient. This just wasn't his style, staying hidden. It occurred to him that Tails would probably be more effective here. The kid may have had done a few mistakes yesterday, but that was no reason to discount all the good he had done, and could do.

On the other hand, Sonic thought, if he were the one outside and the fox inside, it would make it somewhat harder to find out where the other opening for this place was, which was where he would like to meet up with him again. While he was no technician, it just seemed easier and better to operate that wrist device on the outside.

He really didn't want to come out from the cave in the middle of nowhere, in a place full of armed guards, while waiting for him to show up and lead the way back to the Tornado. Even though these ARA members were certainly no match for any robot, it was just more convenient that way.

At the same time, he also noticed something else upon looking at the tunnel closely. Making sure he was far behind enough, the hedgehog decided to communicate the plan he had in mind and his observation with Tails. "You there, bud?" he said silently as he placed one hand to his ear to make sure the earpiece was placed properly.

For the moment, however, he didn't get any reply, as it looked like there was some sort of argument going on out there.

* * *

><p>"There are too many of them, Tails," Sergeant Rojas said matter-of-factly, "and we already have to carry our own equipment. Maybe two or three men at most, but the rest, if we leave them here and they wake up…"<p>

"But, but…" Tails was aghast at how he somehow did not see this coming. His face crumpled as he struggled to come up with something. "What if…what if I helped carry or drag them or something?"

"I appreciate your offer, but the fact is, our exfiltration point is at least five hundred meters from here, and you seem only able to drag two men at a time. There are ten of them here, our team only has six, so we'll still have to kill two of them. And that's not getting into how we need to get past more enemy patrols, how our transport may not have enough space for all of us and them, how our prisons are overcrowded…not to mention how you're better off tracking down Sonic and meeting up with him at where he'll exit." He sighed exasperatedly before replying. "Why do you care so much about them, anyway? They, ah, abused you yesterday, didn't they? They have done far worse to many others for decades in the name of their beliefs."

Now the fox really didn't know how to respond to that one. Each point the sergeant made hit as hard as a bullet. He knew, logically - and pragmatically, again – that everything Rojas said made sense. And it was true that his only exposure to the ARA so far had been a negative experience, to say the least.

But they were still people, even if they were like that. If he and Sonic had already decided to try and get Robotnik alive despite his own issues, he felt that they'd have to do the same for any other lowly 'evil' person. It didn't have to be this way…

"We're out of time," Rojas added impatiently, "some patrol group will come here very soon. Let's do this now. Tails, I suggest you look away."

With a sigh of defeat, the fox silently accepted the sergeant's advice and turned around, closing his eyes and covering his ears in a grimace. Behind him, there was the sound of several guns being chambered, followed by them being fired into the unconscious forms of the ARA members. Killing them in their sleep. The idea just seemed cold, even when compared to the ordinary killing Sonic and Tails normally tried to avoid.

After the shooting ended, he very reluctantly turned back to face the SF team and the now dead ARA members. They had been shot directly in the foreheads. If you had to do it, at least do it quickly and painlessly, he thought wistfully with his ears drooped.

Two commandos picked up the two remaining ARA guards who were spared and hauled them onto their shoulders. "We're moving out. You should go track down Sonic now."

In an ugly situation like this, Tails normally would have delayed before responding, but he quickly reminded himself they had no time to waste. "Um…yeah," he quietly replied with a nod. Then, however, another thought occurred to him. "Wait, how do you want to get confirmation that the planes have been destroyed?"

Rojas had a puzzled expression at first, but it disappeared very quickly. "Ah, yes, I have just thought of that as well. We'd have preferred if we had visual confirmation of the planes' destruction or capture, but since only you have the camera and not Sonic, I guess audio will have to do now. Unless you want to find another way in and help to bring them back to us."

"I can open a new channel between me and you for that," Tails said, "I'll record the whole thing and let you listen to it."

There was a brief silence as the sergeant considered the idea. "Alright, fine."

It took about a minute to set it up even as Tails worked on it as fast as possible, and they were glad it didn't take any longer than that. "Done. So…good luck to you guys, I guess," he eventually said once it was complete, to remain polite.

"Thank you, likewise," he said professionally. "If it helps, this is not what we wanted either. What we want is practicality, and the two just happen to coincide here." He turned around and rallied his men with a hand gesture. "Goodbye."

"I…understand. Uh, bye," the fox said awkwardly before turning around and parted ways with the departing squad, making sure not to look at the ARA corpses while doing so. At the very least, he told himself resignedly, they had done it professionally rather than for cruelty or enjoyment. It still didn't remove the unpleasantness he felt at the necessity of it, or the fact that he had knocked the guards unconscious for nothing, but he took what he could get.

Tails shook his head. Now was not the time to stare at his navel, but to reunite with Sonic. He looked at his wrist device again to check the signal strength that showed the hedgehog's position. It was rather poor, but still there, which meant he should still be able to contact him. "Sonic, you there?" he called out.

"Yep, still here," Sonic replied in a relaxed manner as he continued to navigate the tunnel. Other than the two men in front, no other people have appeared so far. Was this tunnel really as populated as the military thought?

Sonic put that question aside in favor of another one. He had heard the commotion and gunshots using the earpiece, which surprised him greatly. It almost made him ask Tails if he was under attack, only to hear the fox and the sergeant continue speaking with each other after that, but the sound quality was too low for him to make out the words. "Hey, uh, what happened outside? Why were there gunshots?" he asked quietly.

"Um…" Tails tried to think of a short answer as he snuck into the bushes near the mountain, wanting to go around it and hopefully find another opening somewhere. "They…they had to kill the guards so that none of them will know we're here," he finally said, following it with a sigh.

Sonic paused for a while, vocally but not physically, as he considered the information. "…damn."

"I know, but there's nothing we can do about that now," he simply said before moving on. "Anyway, I'm tracking your location now, but the signal strength's pretty bad. I'm gonna go around the mountain to try and close the physical distance between us, maybe find out where the other opening is in the process so that I can meet up with you." He wished he had installed a 3D scanner, or perhaps a LIDAR, of some sort into the wrist device, which would undoubtedly make it easier, though he wasn't sure he could make one small enough that could fit.

"You know how to do that?" Sonic asked. It seemed like a rather big task to him.

"This mountain isn't so big according to the map and satscan. I'm more concerned about staying hidden than that. How're things in there?"

"Quiet so far. But there's something I don't get," the hedgehog answered, deciding to voice out the other thing he'd noticed. "You know, from the outside the tunnel is pretty big and wide, but it seems to be getting smaller now. Like, a lot smaller. And there're a bunch of ramps going upwards. I really don't think jetplanes that big can fit through here. How are they going to launch those things?"

After hearing his friend's comment, Tails' eyes widened as he suddenly got an idea. Bringing his wrist device up again, he opened a satellite scan of Adabat he'd saved earlier and checked Sonic's location on it. He saw that the hedgehog was actually quite close to two rather large irregularly shaped black spots, likely holes, on the mountain surface. He had seen them while researching hours ago, but only now did he have an idea what they could be. More interestingly, one of those holes was quite near the entrance that had caved in. Certainly near enough that it could fall within the margin of error while determining the last known location of the X-1s.

"Sonic, I've thought of something. It's quite possible those planes are going to be launched from inside the mountain through a vertical opening, basically a hole on the ground. I spotted two on the map around this area earlier, but I didn't think much about them until now, not to mention Adabat doesn't have volcanoes. I don't know how they created them or if they're just lucky, but there's no other way they can take to the air without being detected first. So just keep going; I'll tell you if you're nearing one of those holes."

"Roger that," Sonic replied semi-seriously, impressed at the fox's deduction.

"I'll be going up to that hole to check it out in the meantime. The military must have made a mistake here, though," Tails added before he heard a faint rustling coming from the distance, which made him gasp softly. "Uh, give me a minute."

He reflexively dropped into the bushes and peek out in the direction where it was coming from. Sure enough, it looked like some other ARA patrolmen had finally arrived, coming from the right side of where the tunnel entrance used to be. He could see from his position that they were rather shocked and enraged at the mess here. Their apparent leader seemed to order his men to investigate and secure the area.

For a few moments, Tails was reminded of being in the ARA's brief but traumatic captivity, which made him shudder. Not wanting it to happen a second time, however unlikely that seemed, he quickly scurried away into the bushes to get as far away from the patrolmen as possible. "Okay, Sonic, I'm going to find my way up the mountain," he whispered, "but I really gotta make sure they don't see me first."

"Alright," Sonic replied in understanding as he decided to pick up the pace now after what felt like hours of sneaking. While these guys seemed used to being in a dark, filthy cave, Sonic the Hedgehog sure wasn't.

The two men that had been in front of him were now nowhere to be seen, as Sonic had slowed down enough to allow them to get way ahead first. He went on until he finally some more lights. These happened to be the mobile, standing units that could usually be found in construction sites, and there were a few at least ten feet apart from each other. At the same time, he also realized that he could start hearing some voices now. There was definitely activity ahead.

Sonic eventually came to a fork in the tunnels. However, he noticed that the route to the right led to an immediate dead end. Taking a few seconds to look at it with the aid of the nearby light stands, he realized that it looked very much like the newly collapsed rocks at the entrance he had come through just now. Two cave-ins within such a short period? No wonder those guys seemed pissed off.

The voices were getting louder now. He ran a few more meters, following the tunnel as it took a turn to the left. And finally, there it was. Sonic quickly crouched behind a rock before peeking out to take the whole sight in.

In front of him was a large, seemingly man-made chamber of some kind. A group of ARA members was present, hastily looking over various objects in the room such as weapons caches, explosive material, aircraft components and large computer interfaces. But the largest and most magnificent ones that got most of their attention, and Sonic's, were the two UAVs ahead. The two flying machines looked almost majestic with the way the nearby lights shined on them.

At the far end of the chamber, behind the UAVs, was a sizable hole in the ceiling, presumably for the aircraft to enter and exit. Several men were getting ladders out to put at the holes, as it was likely the only way out for them now. "Tails, I'm here," he reported, "the planes are right in front of me. Man, looks like they got a full facility for these things here. And I can see a ceiling opening straight ahead. Where am I on your map?"

"You're pretty close to it, maybe only a few dozen meters out. I guess we're looking at the same thing here," he heard Tails reply, which sounded noticeably clearer than just now. "I'm approaching it too, but it might take a while. They have a few encampments out here that I have to avoid. Hey, uh, do you see Robotnik?" He would have asked about the Guerrez brothers as well, but they were unable to find any clear pictures of either of them on the internet.

Unable to believe he had forgotten that, he closely scanned the room from left to right, and then from front to back, looking properly at every human being in the area. "Nope, he ain't here," he concluded, unsure what he felt about his absence, "I would've recognized him instantly." His eyes then went back to gazing at the planes and the opening behind them. He didn't know too much about the ARA, but he was quite certain this kind of thing was Robotnik's work and not theirs alone, having stolen advanced military aircraft and a hidden, makeshift hangar for them like this.

"Oh," the fox replied, sounding slightly disappointed. "So you wanna wait for me?"

Sonic was too focused on what was on the other end of the chamber, however, to the point where he neglected to check what was closer to him. Realizing this, he quickly shrunk back behind the rock, but by then, one of the men had turned his head and noticed something strange at the room entrance.

_Oh crap!_ The man was already pointing a finger at the rock while informing the others. Soon after that, Sonic could hear the sound of their footsteps coming towards him. It didn't seem like they knew it was Sonic yet, as they would be panicking already, but they definitely would soon. He chided himself for his mistake as he tried to think of a way out of this, but came up short. He couldn't go around the rock, nor could he run back into the tunnel where he came from, as both would still get him noticed. "Uh, I don't think so. I think they spotted me," he tried to report calmly.

"What?" Tails replied in shock. "Then what are you gonna do now?"

There was really only one solution left, and Sonic no longer cared if it meant getting seen by everyone After all, the original plan was to stay hidden until the planes were destroyed or captured, wasn't it? "Well, bud," he announced coolly, "think it's time to zoom and boom!"

"Sonic? Wait!" But it was already time to act.

Sonic bounced himself off the floor at an angle, and the top of his head crashed into the man's abdomen the instant he came around the rock, causing him to close his eyes and collapse backwards on another person behind him. He then went into spinning mode and leapt over the two downed men, but made sure his quills weren't sharpened as he collided with another man, who was checking a weapons cache and had just turned to see what was happening.

At this moment everyone in the chamber was already alerted. Sonic ducked behind the wooden boxes next to the unconscious man, using his very short hiding time to plan his next move. The first two men he'd knocked down were already getting back up, and he could hear the sound of various rifles and pistols being cocked.

If they still didn't know what or who was attacking them, they did now, as Sonic jumped and spun towards the same two men, knocking them down again and bouncing off of them to hit the others to the right of the room, near the computers and explosives. This was when the bullets started flying. From the left, the men began firing their AKs and handguns wildly in the direction of the blue blur, apparently ignoring the risk of hitting their own comrades or the equipment. One of the computers was shot several times as Sonic darted past it and punched another guy, causing it to spark.

Having learned a bit of Spanish earlier, Sonic could hear one of them shouting about '_el erizo_' – the hedgehog. Yep, they definitely knew now.

Sonic acted – or rather, reacted – so fast that he didn't even count how many people did he knock out in the midst of the confusion and chaos. He continued to do the same thing while zooming around the chamber in a circle, or more accurately a square, before realizing that there wasn't anyone left shouting, shooting, or standing. Then only did he slow to a stop near the plane closer to the tunnel entrance. "Whew, that ended faster than I thought it would," he remarked as he panted.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked again, and his concerned voice was now even clearer than before.

"Yeah. To be honest I think this was what I was planning to do anyway. Just had to move the timing up a bit, that's all. So where are you now?" Sonic asked as he glanced at the large hole in the ceiling again, which actually led to a vertical shaft that was about twenty feet high before opening out to the surface.

"Almost there. I've got a clear route, more or less, to the opening. Doesn't look like these guards outside have heard it. So you knocked everyone out?"

"Yeah, they're all down. I guess you could come here and fly these things back to where they belong, huh?"

"Uh…" Tails sounded bewildered. "Hopefully. I'll have to look properly at the computer's control system first, maybe check the manual or even just call someone. Is there anything like it there?"

Before Sonic could reply, he realized that the chamber was not in total silence. There was a soft, sizzling sound coming from somewhere. "Err, I'll have a look. Hold on."

As Sonic turned around to check the computers near the right wall, he noticed that the one that had been shot up was still sparking madly. And for some reason, someone had placed various explosives right next to it, and this included dynamites with the fuses pointed in the wrong direction.

Nervously, his eyes then looked around the rest of the room. Only then did he notice just how many more explosives there were. Not to mention the various missiles and ordnance right next to the planes which were meant to use them. And finally, one of the dynamite fuses was already about to be burnt up completely.

"Uh, Tails," he said, trying to sound calm as he moved towards the opening, before looking up to see the fox's familiar silhouette against the night sky, who was looking down at him. "Wait, don't come down here! Change of plans again!" he said loudly while waving his hands.

"Huh? Why?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

As soon as Sonic jumped from the ground, the dynamites behind him went off, creating a bright, red glow behind him, which only grew even larger as the ensuing chain reaction of massive explosions occurred. "_That_'s why."

"Sonic, what did you do?" the wide-eyed and surprised fox asked.

"Nothing! Get back!" the hedgehog practically shouted back as more explosives went off down below while he bounced off the shaft's surfaces to escape. A huge wall of flames was already coming up fast, and he had only just jumped out of its way and grabbed a stunned Tails as he reached the surface when it erupted out of the opening like lava from a volcano.

Both of them rolled and tumbled sideways several meters along the rocky mountain surface before coming to a stop. Staying motionless for a few seconds, both of them eventually shook their heads and got up. They looked back at the opening to the side, where the flames had already died out and were replaced with thick smoke. That was when another dreaded realization hit them.

"Okay, that was _not_ what I had in mind," Sonic spoke with a sigh as he dusted his torso and arms. "I didn't…plan on getting those people blown up. It's just that the computer got shot and started sparking, and there was lots of dynamite and bombs nearby, so…" He shook his head.

"I know it wasn't you, Sonic. Sorry I thought it was. It's not your fault," Tails assured. He turned back to face the opening. "The guards out here definitely saw that though. But I need to do something before we leave," he added before he darted towards the smoking hole.

"Wait, what're you doing?"

"I need proof we've destroyed those planes. Just going down there to take a pic. A few seconds, okay?" The fox then dropped himself down inside, holding his breath to avoid being asphyxiated.

Once he landed, he saw that whatever used to be here, it was pretty much all gone. The huge chamber was littered with huge amounts of debris, scrap metal and…blood?

_Eew_. Turning both his eyes and thoughts away from the gruesomeness, he focused on what he came here for. In front of him were the remains of two X-1 UAVs whose bodies were almost totally burnt out. He started spinning his namesakes to lift himself while raising his wrist device to take a picture before hovering up away from this mess.

"Tails, I think people are coming!" Sonic said as the fox landed again onto the mountain surface. His orange-golden fur was covered in a whole bunch of soot and dust, but the hedgehog for once wasn't really in the mood to tease him about that. "Lead the way!"

They took off in their respective unique forms of mobility just as the voices of surprised ARA guards climbing up the mountain got closer. Overall, they didn't find the experience all that exhilarating – they were just glad this was over.

* * *

><p>"You managed to get the picture?" Tails asked Alan over his wrist device as he stood next to Sonic and the Tornado. He had spent the last few minutes after coming back here giving a full mission report to Alan after doing the same with Sergeant Rojas, as well as cleaning himself up.<p>

"Yeah, I've got it," Doherty replied around two thousand miles away, looking at the photo he'd just received. "My God, what happened here?"

"Uh, let's just say the ARA should just put their explosives and computers further apart from each other next time," Sonic replied.

Alan examined the outline of the large burnt out object in the image. It indeed fit that of the X-1. He let out a sigh of relief. "So, you informed the SF team about this already?"

"Done," Tails immediately answered.

"In that case, mission accomplished then. Good job, both of you."

"Well, thanks, I guess," the hedgehog replied, though unusually, he didn't sound very triumphant. With a resigned sigh, he continued, "it's just, I don't know…I wish those people weren't caught in the blasts."

"Well, you can't save everyone in a war. And besides, their deaths mean that there is nobody that can tell others about either of you ever having been there. And even if they find out somehow, it's already too late for them to do much about it."

Nobody said anything for a moment. "Guess that makes sense," Sonic said with a shrug, "still…maybe we're just not used to it." And he was worried about even needing to do so. If his character really got desensitized to death like this, he had no idea how he would look at himself again.

"If you ask me, the only real shame is that Robotnik was nowhere to be found," Doherty continued with a frown. "But at least he's been weakened now. All of them are. One of these days he's going to be flushed out from those holes along with his new buddies."

"You think we'd get to join in when that happens?" Sonic asked curiously.

"Perhaps. After all, you have been a big help to us," Alan answered before letting out a yawn. "So what are you going to do now? You coming back?"

Sonic and Tails looked at each other. Then their gazes moved to the city skyline below, which was still bright and illuminated even though it was past midnight already. And the weather was rather cool too thanks to the wind. "You thinking what I'm thinking, bro?" the hedgehog asked.

A nod. "Yeah."

"Uh, actually, Al," Sonic began replying, "you think it's okay if we stayed out here for the night? We've got camping equipment and a pretty nice spot too. I think we kinda earned it, don't you think?"

"Well, I don't mind, but you'd have to inform Edwards about it."

"Will do," Tails answered, "so I guess we'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for helping us to arrange this, Alan."

"Just doing my job. Anyway, I'm pretty tired here too. Good night."

"Night!" they both wished before the connection closed.

"Still can't believe you just so happened to put those outdoor bedrolls in the Tornado," Sonic said, smiling for the first time in hours as Tails went up to get said bedrolls that were stuffed under the plane's rear seat.

"Well, you know me," Tails said as he winked at his friend, also with a smile, "I think ahead."

Fifteen minutes later, after calling Keating at Edwards and informing him of their impromptu camping trip which Tails had discussed with him before, both of them had taken their shoes off and tucked themselves into their own bedrolls, each with colors that matched that of their fur.

Soon after that, though, Tails decided to pull his legs and body out and just use the bedroll as a mattress, as he preferred wrapping his own namesakes around himself to keep warm. Together, they gazed at the starry night, before turning their heads to look at the Adabat City lights again.

The sight caused Sonic to speak up about something he was thinking about – that was keeping him awake. "Hey, Tails?"

"Yeah?" the small fox answered, following it with a yawn.

"You think we'll ever get used to something like that? All that…violence just now?" he asked, sounding unusually somber.

There was silence. Tails didn't know what he thought about it himself. It used to be just trashing robots and saving live victims. So much simpler. "Well…" he finally answered after some contemplation, "if Robotnik is captured and put behind bars as soon as possible, we won't have to be, I guess."

Sonic took a few seconds to digest his reply. "Yeah, hopefully," he responded. Then he decided to ask about something else less serious. "You want to go down to see the city tomorrow?"

"Hmm…sure, okay. They'll definitely be quite surprised by our unannounced visit though."

"Eh, I've done that a few times already. Shouldn't be a problem." Sonic started yawning at this moment. "Well, g'night, bud."

"Night, Sonic." The duo dozed off soon after that, their last thoughts being about what they'd do down in the city rather than the deaths they'd encountered earlier in order to get their minds off of that. They had no idea that the two would become very related to each other the next day.

* * *

><p>"Ah, goddammit," Alan mumbled as he was jerked awake by his ringing cell phone. He groggily grabbed it and looked at the screen. It was Ryan Warner. "Yeah, Ryan?" he tried to greet politely after pressing the 'answer' button.<p>

"Hey, Alan, sorry to call at this moment, but we've discovered a few things you need to know," Warner replied, sounding hurried and urgent.

Doherty was sitting upright on his bed now. "What is it?"

"Our guys managed to trace the paper trail on that warehouse and anyone who used it. Turns out that those same ARA guys have been taking cargo from there for the past four months on very fixed schedules and times, usually three or four times a week. We can't tell if everything they'd loaded from day one were all aircraft parts since those aren't recorded, though we do have the sizes. Normally it's just a box or two, but yesterday they were going for much more than usual. If you ask me, it's not real hard to guess."

"Alright, sure, but who's the guy placing the stuff there in the first place? If it's not the ARA, who's stealing from GUN like that?"

"Uh," Ryan hesitated for a moment before replying, "whoever asked to use the building tried real hard to stay anonymous, but we've dug through most of the records he'd been hiding behind…" A worried sigh. "Alan, it's Robert Mayes."

His eyes flew wide open at the answer. "The CEO of GUN himself is selling weapons to terrorists?"

"Well, I don't know if 'sell' is the right word. His financial records don't seem to have changed much since he started doing this. But we'll keep looking."

"What about the company's production output reports on those components?"

"Not yet. We'll have to look at that one tomorrow. But considering the small number of parts, relatively speaking, that had been smuggled out per week, they could probably just be passed off as accounting errors."

There was something else worth pointing out. "Hey, weren't most of the problems the X-1 had fixed within the same time period? Not a coincidence."

"You mean…oh my God," Warner said in shock. "The only question left is…why?"

Doherty frowned. The way this was developing was disturbing him. Nevertheless he managed to muster up some resolve before replying, "The most obvious answer is profit...but I guess we can ask him that tomorrow as well."

"Alan, that's not all," Ryan continued. "We've got info from DoD that the Adabat military may have underreported the losses they've suffered to the ARA. Again."

"What? Jesus, they have a chronic history of doing this," Doherty growled in frustration. "What is it this time?"

"None of us know exactly what yet. But reports indicate it's probably something big, and that they may have been captured rather than destroyed."

"You mean…you mean the ARA and Robotnik may have more than just two X-1s?"

"We're still trying to find someone who won't feed us bullshit within the Adabat Armed Forces to tell us, but for all we know, that could be the case," Warner said glumly.

Alan could only shake his head. Once again, the worst case scenario was forming in his head. "Son of a bitch. This means Sonic and Tails' mission isn't over."

"Yeah, you better tell them while they're still there. See what else they can do."

"They're definitely asleep now. I'll send them a message. You and I need to be as well. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

"Damn right. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, goodnight," Alan moodily wished. He took a minute to type a message to Tails before lying back down on the bed. He glanced at Cheryl beside him, who remained peacefully asleep. _My God_, he thought, _just when it looked like we could catch a break_.

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you doing?" Alfonso Guerrez cried out as he was roughly dragged along by his own brother to the front of the men he supposedly led. "I am your brother and the leader of all of you!"<p>

Alejandro punched him in the face for the twentieth time that night, making his already bloodied features look even worse. "You are also a failure," he said quietly but venomously. "You are the one who has been getting our men killed left and right because of your incompetent plans. What happened at South Gate is the last straw. And if you never ordered the cargo in there to be put in such dangerous positions, we'd still have four planes instead of just two!"

The badly beaten Alfonso was brought to his knees. Above and in front of him, legions of young ARA guerillas that he had coached personally were now glaring at him with eyes like gun muzzles. They too were sick of their comrades dying in such insulting ways.

"About the only good thing you have ever done for us," Alejandro continued to speak with his voice lowered again, "is bringing in our good friend here." To his side, Dr. Ivo Robotnik stepped into the chamber through the door, his prominent rotund frame visible to all under the newly installed lights. The grin on his face was nasty, or rather, nastier than usual.

"Since Robotnik started helping us, he has given us weapons. Tools. Aid. Supplies. Security. The very things we had lacked under your so-called leadership. Six months ago, we did not have the ability to go against the military like we do now. Have you done anything half as useful?"

"I brought in new recruits! Young men and women who had nowhere else to go! They now have a home because of me!"

"No. They _had_ a home. You took them in and sent them off to die so humiliatingly that you might as well have just executed them. Speaking of which, you know how we punish ineptness, don't you? What you always preached about?"

The former leader's eyes grew wide in fear at the realization. He had been the one who had made the ARA a group that rewarded success and penalized failure. Failure of which he was now being accused. The irony was just salt on the wound.

Alejandro pulled out his Browning Hi-Power and placed the muzzle on Alfonso's forehead. "Goodbye, my brother. But as you yourself have said before," he said almost mournfully as he cocked the weapon's hammer, "bad leaders are supposed to be removed and replaced. And it doesn't just apply to the government."

"You will regret this!" Alfonso shouted in both panic and anger. "Robotnik has his own plans in mind! I should never have-"

BAM! Alejandro pressed down hard on the trigger, having no time or desire to listen to his brother's rants. As the loud gunshot reverberated throughout the chamber, an equally loud sound joined in. The ARA members, both novices and veterans, began cheering wildly with their right fists raised above them.

They only calmed down after a full minute, which was when the only living Guerez that remained started to speak. "Comrades," he said, pointing at the corpse on the ground with his pistol, "now that we are rid of our dead weight, we can finally focus on defeating the real enemy once more. And with the help of Dr. Robotnik, it will finally happen. A revolution thirty years in the making will come true now!

"Just like this weakling here, the regime is guilty of incompetence. But worse yet is their outright malice against the people. They ally with the richest people, the largest corporations and the Yankees to keep themselves wealthy and in power, while the people suffer under poverty, corruption, police brutality, lack of healthcare, rising living costs, unemployment, and most of all, fear. Fear of speaking up against the injustice, lest it crushes them.

"The government has continued to promise, for the last thirty years, that they would reform and change the system – all lies. The wealthy and the corporations are what help the political parties win elections – they would _never_ turn on the same people that put them in office! They would let them continue get away with the worst business practices and keep them immune from prosecution.

"But finally, they have made a mistake that benefits us. These new, multi-million dollar unmanned fighter jets will prove to be the last time they ever squander their money, the last time they suck up to the Yankees' military-industrial complex!

"We will turn our enemy's own weapons against them! After that, we move in and destroy the rest of their lapdogs in the government and military. And finally, the struggle will be over. In one fell swoop, we will decapitate the regime and cut the corporate hand that has strangled the Adabatian people for decades. And for those responsible who remain alive after this, they will now know what it is like to be the oppressed! The victim! What it is like to lose everything!

"They will also finally realize what people who have nothing left to lose, like us, can do to retaliate! To strike back! The future of Adabat belongs to the _Ejército Revolucionario del Adabat_! _Viva la revolución_!"

The triumphant note on which his speech ended gave way to louder, determined roars. They continued to keep their right fists in the air, fully believing that the government and military will be crushed in them tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Robotnik simply stood there, continuing to grin but otherwise not showing any overt emotion like everyone else in the room. He was about to wonder for how long more did he have to follow their song and dance when a hand clapped onto his right shoulder.

"Seriously, Ivo, your plan worked," Guerrez told him quietly. "Thanks to your suggestion that we collapse that tunnel to partition the two aircraft chambers, we managed to keep the rest of our firepower safe from…from those attacks. Shame your deception about exactly where they landed wasn't similarly effective, but it was still worth it."

Praises aside, that was one question that remained lingering on the mad scientist's mind. Who could have done that? After observing the mess himself – and getting up there hadn't been particularly easy – it seemed unlikely to be only the work of the Adabat Armed Forces. Could it be…

Sonic the Hedgehog? He frowned in irritation. Could it be? But he was right at home in Los Angeles with his fox friend, wasn't he? Still, the possibility continued to trouble him.

"So, the upgrades are complete?" Guerrez asked, interrupting his thought again.

"Of course," Robotnik replied rather pompously. Robert Mayes really should be thanking him for having helped to improve the X-1 to the point where it could actually live up to its name, its 1940s namesake.

"And your backup weaponry?"

"Yes. Finally, I won't have to keep them buried anymore," he answered, sounding genuinely glad. His flying fortress had managed to keep quite a few of its secrets safe before exploding six months ago.

"Excellent. You shall continue to helm their controls," Guerrez said, flashing a brief smile, but then it quickly disappeared as he put on a somber look. "The world will despise us for this," he added before the firmness entered his voice, "but they will see, in the long run, that we have done the right thing."

Robotnik did not say anything in return, nor respond in any other way that betrayed his only thought: _We'll see_.


	7. Chapter 6: Hell in Broad Daylight

**Chapter 6: Hell in Broad Daylight**

"You know, something doesn't make sense," Ryan said as he sat in the front passenger seat of Alan's car. "About that paper trail yesterday. Come to think of it, I don't think he hid his tracks as well as he could have."

"Maybe he just got sloppy," Doherty observed dismissively, turning the wheel to overtake another car.

"Sure, but how forgetful or stupid you can be to not put your own name there? And, seriously, no aliases? Wouldn't be that hard." Warner crossed his arms in thought. "You know, I'm almost thinking it were as if he wanted to be investigated."

A minute later, the Chrysler pulled over in one of the parking spots in front of GUN's headquarters. It was still rather early in the morning, so there were still plenty of them available. "Then we'll let him know exactly what it feels like," Alan stated firmly as he turned off the engine. "Let's get in there."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Mr. Doherty, but Mr. Mayes isn't in now, and probably won't be coming back here today. He's making some unannounced inspections at the production facilities," Mayes' personal secretary Mrs. Shuster said politely.<p>

"Well, isn't that just convenient?" Alan replied as he faced Agent Warner next to him and rolled his eyes. Ryan himself did not appear particularly surprised, however.

"Although, I should mention that he informed me about your possible visit," the slim, red-headed middle-aged woman continued, "and he wanted me to give you this." She reached down below a desk and pulled up a thick black file. "It's our full production record since the beginning of the fiscal year He typed it personally himself, and he hopes that you find it useful."

"For him or for us?" Doherty quickly asked in response, only to realize how rude it was for him to take his suspicions and frustration out on this woman who had been nothing but helpful and co-operative so far. "Uh, ignore that," he immediately added, "sorry, and thank you for providing us with this."

"No problem, and you're welcome. I'm just following my boss' instructions."

Alan glanced at the file that was now in his hand. It was thick enough that he and Ryan wouldn't be able to just skim through it right here. The rest of their work regarding this document had to be done back at the field office, so they were supposedly finished here.

But that didn't seem right. They had barely been here at GUN's main headquarters for five minutes. Certainly there was something more they could find out. It took Doherty several seconds of thinking before it finally occurred to him what it was, and the obviousness of it made him feel stupid. "Actually, Mrs. Shuster, could we ask you a few more questions before we leave?"

"Certainly. What would you like to know?"

"How long have you been working for Mayes?"

"Since he founded this company…actually, even before that. I've been his secretary for at least three of his previous businesses."

"So you must know him rather well?" he suggested.

She paused for a moment. "Well, he once joked saying that I understood him and his work better than his own wife," she admitted with a smile, "though nothing more came out of that, if you know what I mean. I'm already married myself."

He nodded. "Alright, I get it. So you see him every day?"

"Almost, yes."

"Okay, in that case, I'd like to ask you: have you noticed any change in his behavior or attitude within the past six months?"

An unusually long and silence followed, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. Her eyes scanned the room that they were in to make sure there wasn't anyone else there. "To be honest, Mr. Doherty," she began, speaking more quietly now, "I'm glad you asked that. I don't know who else to say it to, but I think there really has been something off about him since at least five months ago."

Now this was interesting. Doherty leaned in closer over her desk, glancing at her with concerned and curious eyes. "Go on."

"I…I'm not sure why, but he seems constantly nervous. And I noticed that he prefers to be alone a lot more these days, and whenever someone, including myself, try to talk to him, he seems startled, maybe even agitated. That day, someone entered his office without knocking the door, and he started shouting. Normally he'd just calmly tell them to knock next time."

"As if he has something to hide," Alan observed.

Shuster looked downwards glumly before facing him again. "Perhaps. And speaking of his office, he seems to spend time there much more often than usual. Anywhere else, he'll spend as little time there as possible before finding an excuse to go back in there, unless there's a crowd or someone to talk to…yes, he prefers to be alone only in his office, and he doesn't seem to want get out unless he has to talk to somebody."

Doherty and Warner turned to look at each other. Then at the door of Mayes' office behind her. "Then you wouldn't mind if we take a look around inside," he stated flatly.

"I, uh, no sir."

"Alright, thank you," he said as she got up from her seat and walked towards the white wooden door, though he didn't follow yet. "Ryan, go back down there and look through that document. I'll do the rest here," he told his partner as he took out his cell phone.

"Got it."

As Warner headed out, Doherty had already placed a call and was waiting for it to be picked up. "This is Doherty," he spoke once it was answered, "we need the whole bug-sweeping crew up here on the double."

* * *

><p>"And finally, ladies and gentlemen, here we are, at the Presidential Palace," the tour guide spoke with a slight accent and a smile, "also known as <em>el cerdo<em> – the pig, due to how some say it looks, and sometimes also due to its main inhabitant."

"So the ARA wants to storm the Pig to get rid of the Pig?" one of the tourists in the group with an accent nobody could place suggested, which caused some of the others to chuckle.

The Presidential Palace of Adabat did look rather strange, being a roughly oval-shaped building when viewed from the top, though it had five squared off sections that protruded out of its circumference, and the one facing the south towards the main garden, which was where the President's office was, was slightly larger than the rest. The nickname and jokes did not take long to surface shortly after it was built, especially with the mostly mediocre to poor administrations over the past several years. A common one was about how the President didn't actually work or stay in the pig's head, but rather its _other_ end. It didn't help that the flowers and trees right outside the office were rather beautiful, and some said they received better treatment than the population of Adabat itself.

No matter what anyone thought about the building and its primary owner, today was the last chance anyone got to see it in person. Very soon, it was going down, and it wouldn't even be because the President decided to renovate.

A plane of some sort was traveling in the bright morning sky, coming in from the north. Normally this wouldn't be unusual, but this one was moving rather fast, and very loudly too, which caught the attention of all of the tourists and locals as it approached the Palace.

Then, without warning, the aircraft dropped something before banking hard to turn left, towards the thickest concentration of Adabat City, across the river. The object landed on and pierced through the building's roof directly with a crack audible even from here.

It was already too far away for the tourists to notice, but the plane was dropping several similar objects onto various building and skyscrapers in the distance.

At first, nothing happened. Everyone had frozen from surprise or curiosity, as well as the strangeness of it. Then, just as it clicked in the heads of some of the people present here what those objects could be, all hell broke loose.

The Pig imploded rather spectacularly, the internal blast loudly causing the entire structure to crumble while also sending thousands of pieces of debris in all directions at speeds that would embarrass Sonic. The hedgehog was actually what some people were thinking of as they started screaming in horror.

Everyone was now panicking and running away from the scene of destruction, only to head straight into another. In front of them, many buildings in the distant skyline also imploded – not all of them, but enough to certainly cause at least several thousand deaths.

There was more screaming. Many of them simply stopped moving and stared in horror, now no longer able to decide where else to run to for fear of there being even more explosions. It was just their sheer bad luck that they were here the same day the ARA finally decided to attack, which was only slightly canceled out by the fact that so were two other certain visitors.

* * *

><p>The noise travelled far enough to wake up both Sonic and Tails, who groggily lifted themselves up from their bedrolls, feeling slightly annoyed at the intrusive sound. Then they turned their heads to the direction that it was coming from, from the city, and were instantly frozen in shock at the sight.<p>

"What the hell?" Sonic actually blurted out loud. "What just happened down there?"

"I-I-I don't know," Tails stammered.

Before them, the city skyline that they had been looking forward to see during the day was emitting large plumes of smoke from many spots. It also seemed to have less buildings compared to what they saw last night. Then it became clear why. One of the taller skyscrapers, which was on fire and severely damaged somehow, collapsed vertically. Their acute sense of hearing meant that they could hear the screams even from here.

Both of them immediately stood up on their feet, which they slid straight into their shoes. Suddenly, they were no longer tired. "We…we gotta get down there and help them!" Sonic said in a rush. The scene was already bringing back memories of seeing his hometown on Mobius being bombed, which only made his heart race even faster, and not in the way he liked.

"Yeah. Gotta tell Alan about…" Tails raised his hand to check his wrist before seeing that he had received a message from Doherty a few hours ago, while they were still asleep. He opened it and hastily read it, which made his expression even more worried. "Sonic…"

"What is it? What are we waiting for?"

"Alan sent us a message about how the military may have lost more advanced equipment to the ARA than they have revealed," the fox explained in summary before looking out again at the devastated city in disbelief. "They have something else we're not aware of, and they've just used it."

"Okay, you can tell me and call Alan while we get down there," Sonic replied impatiently as he started to move. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Special Agent Doherty was staring out of the large window behind Mayes' desk. His office had already been swept thoroughly and declared free of bugs, which, coupled with Shuster's account about her boss' attitude in the last few months, gave Alan an idea.<p>

After staring at the building opposite of the window for a few minutes, he finally turned around to leave. In his hand, his cell phone was still on. "Yes, sir, I'd still suggest sweeping that building," he spoke into it. "I noticed a number of rooms that could be used for covert surveillance – at least those are the spots I would choose. It's worth checking out."

"Alright, you take lead on that then," McLaughlin replied.

"Yes, sir. I'd imagine, though, that anybody using those spots may have already fled after seeing us here, but they may have left something behind." His phone emitted a beep as he came out of the office. Looking at the screen, he realized Tails was trying to reach him. "Sir, Tails is on the line. I'll get back to you later," he said as he pressed a button, switching to talk to the fox. "Tails, what is it?"

"Alan, have you seen the news?" Tails' voice was noticeably frightened and panicky. "Something really big and horrible's happened here! People are dead and dying and-"

"Wait, wait, slow down," Doherty said. An unsettling feeling came over him when he considered the little he had just heard. "What just happened?" he asked calmly.

"Uh, we were just sleeping when we woke up and saw Adabat City on fire. A lot of buildings have been destroyed, and those people…oh gosh…"

"Son of a-hold on," Alan answered as he turned to Shuster, who was back at her desk. "Excuse me, could you turn that TV on? We need the news."

"Of course, sir," she said as she picked up a remote controller and turned it on. The new channel it was already turned to had a large 'breaking news' banner over its headline.

"…video footage sent in to us minutes ago, showing unidentified aircraft launching missiles upon Adabat City, destroying a large number of buildings, including the Presidential Palace, and very likely having killed thousands of people, including the President and his family. Also, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles 'Tails' Prower have just appeared to offer assistance, although questions regarding their presence here have been raised but not answered…"

Doherty and the other agents watched the news with their mouths and eyes wide open. He found that he couldn't say anything except one word. "Shit."

* * *

><p>"Sonic? Tails?" some of the people in the panicking crowd were asking, both out of confusion and relief.<p>

"Uh, I don't know if anyone of you speak English," Sonic began saying to the people on the street after slowing down, "but we've been here since last night. It's kinda complicated why, but the most important thing is we're here now, and we're going to help, okay?"

Before anyone could reply, there were the sounds of fire trucks moving out on the street behind the crowd, their sirens blaring loudly and urgently. The duo decided that it was best to follow them.

"Tails, we better follow wherever the fire department goes. Come on!" Sonic said before leaping over everyone's heads.

The fox did the same by flying. "Alright. And Alan," he said hurriedly, turning back to his wrist device, "I have you on speed dial, so I'll keep you informed, okay? For now we'll focus on saving these people first. Then we deal with the ARA again later. Okay, bye."

The duo followed the fire trucks around as they turned a corner, and they were joined in by a few ambulances. The traffic jam, which was already bad in the first place and exacerbated by the catastrophe here caused some of the trucks to actually drive along the sidewalks, causing the shocked passers-by to jump onto the street to avoid them, since the cars were hardly moving anyway.

After a minute of scraping other cars and knocking over trash cans and telephone booths, the fire trucks finally reached their destination. Several buildings were on fire, likely due to being hit by debris caused by the destruction of another nearby building, obviously having been targeted by the ARA and was now a pile of rubble and a hole in the ground. The sign on the exterior fence made it clear why.

"Federal Police headquarters," Tails translated unnecessarily. He tried not to think of the possible number of people that perished inside.

"Looks like we have yet another responsibility," Sonic observed. "I really hope they didn't blow up the fire department building too."

"Yeah. They're not that crazy…are they?" Tails wondered out loud.

"Don't know. Anyway," Sonic took several steps forward to approach the firefighters who have just gotten off their vehicles. "Excuse me; do you think we could help?"

"Oh, thank God you're here," one of them said, sounding very relieved. Knowledge of English seemed mercifully widespread in Adabat, even among the working class. "Thank you, yeah, you're welcome to help. That plane sure fucked this city up," he continued bitterly, "I knew those things would be trouble one day."

This was news to them, and it made them stand very still. "Plane?" Sonic muttered.

"Of course! You didn't see it? How else could they have done this? Suicide bombing? Please."

"But how? Yesterday I thought we…" Tails began to say, but then realized it wasn't supposed to be public knowledge. Not yet anyway. He made a mental note to himself to ask Sonic to explain everything later to the crowd, while he himself did the same on the Internet. "Uh, never mind. What can we do now?"

* * *

><p>"You still can't get to him?" Alan asked Mrs. Shuster in desperation.<p>

"No, it's not getting through," she said as she shook her head. Her boss still had not answered the phone after three attempts. "I'll try the plant manager, hold on."

"Wait, just one thing before you continue," he said, gently putting his hand over the phone she was holding, having just thought of this. In a softer voice, he asked, "I need to know something, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way. Do you think Robert Mayes could be responsible, in any way, for this?"

Her first response was a cold stare, possibly of disbelief. Then, a few seconds later, she shook her head. "Impossible. I've worked with Mr. Mayes for over ten years…he has principles. He could have chosen to use dirty tactics to keep his previous businesses afloat, but he instead chose to just let them fail, almost gracefully, even. It's not that he doesn't try to cut corners sometimes, but something so sneaky and illegal like this…no, no. Mr. Doherty," she said to him almost pleadingly, "if he really has done this, it must be because something's happened, like someone's forcing him to do it, somehow. I really hope you can help him."

Doherty stayed silent while considering her defense of him. Normally, he would have dismissed it and thought that she was in it too, but when combined with her report about Mayes' behavior over the last several months and the possible presence of more ARA in the city due to the encounter two nights ago, not to mention the building opposite that could have been, or still be, used to spy on his office made it harder to simply do that. "I can't promise anything," he replied in the only way he could think of, "but I will do what I can to find out the truth, about Mayes or the attacks in Adabat. And I'll need to your help for that. So, do you think the plant manager will answer?"

* * *

><p>The Adabat Armed Forces had three military bases, and the one located just south of the country's mostly rural northeastern quadrant was usually considered the first line of defense against the ARA, and as such contained units of several sizes from all branches of the military. Some of the soldiers and staff stationed there found the work to be surprisingly mundane, however, despite its location and purpose, and wished that there was more action. And only today did they learn to be careful what you wished for.<p>

The moment they heard of the chaos that was developing in the city, many of the soldiers, including Special Forces, had quickly mobilized to move out. Pilots quickly moved out to their fighter jets and attack helicopters, while their unmanned counterparts were also being prepared for takeoff. They did not move fast enough, however, and the ARA was more ready to target them than the other way around, mostly because of their new toys.

The pilot was climbing up the ladder to his F-16 when it happened. There was a thump sound, and soon the airfield technicians standing on the ground saw the man silently fall off the steps onto his back. He had not put on his helmet yet, and there was a bloody hole through his head. "Shit," one of them cursed loudly and in fear, "sniper!"

The same thing then happened to another pilot nearby, which finally caused the technicians to panic and run away. They had no idea why there wasn't any report of the base perimeter being breached. They looked over in the direction where the shots came from, at the fence and the jungle behind it in the far distance, but they saw nothing. There was no way a sniper could hit from all the way-

More shots flew in with deadly, inhuman accuracy, and the fleeing base workers promptly fell limply onto the runway concrete. Around them, many of the people out on the runways and helipads had already suffered the same fate, and this was followed by an X-1, which was invisible to the military's radar thanks to its upgrades, coming in from the north to drop its munitions on the barracks and facilities meant for base security.

The main buildings, hangars and storages, however, would be spared, as the equipment, vehicles and aircraft inside, especially the extra inactive X-1, was what they had come for. Anyone inside could be easily eliminated in standard indoor CQC, since the approaching ARA forces now completely outnumbered them.

Their current job completed, Robotnik's autobuggies, as he now called them, began to move away, back into the woods, at the same time retracting the machine guns mounted on top of them, which they had used as sniper rifles earlier, firing in single shots at extreme ranges while accounting for all of the factors involved better than most human snipers could.

"Oh, hell, yes," Robotnik, who controlled and monitored the action computer console's screens quite a distance away, said victoriously while doing a fist pump and showing his trademark grin. It felt excellent to use these things again since doing so at that airport six months ago, all the more so due to the astounding performance so far.

"I'm getting reports of minimal casualties on our side and minimum to no damage on the supplies we need," Alejandro Guerrez next to him said after listening in on the radio. "All the corporate parasites that run the media and the government are now dead. We only now need to wipe out their lapdog military, and judging by the performance of your machines and the additional firepower we can obtain from here…it should not take long," he proclaimed confidently.

"Why, I'm so flattered!" the fat scientist replied in a bombastic way that didn't really sound like he meant it. Then he put on a more serious expression and continued, "but let's not rejoice first. We'll have to land the planes for now to refuel and rearm. And for once, we won't have to do it in a stinking cave."

"Indeed." Guerrez decided to turn on the TV to see how the Adabat Media Center's technical error message looked like onscreen. They were near the opening of yet another cave at the top of the mountain, which allowed them to receive broadcast signals. After switching it on, he saw that it looked quite dull indeed, with nothing more than a yellow box with the words '_error __técnico_'.

Then he felt that he'd like to see something other than an unmoving screen, and switched to an American news channel. As expected, they were expressing horror at the events in Adabat and condemning the ARA as the most likely culprit, as well as…_what's this_? "Hey," Guerrez called to Robotnik with what sounded like a concerned tone, "I think you better look at this."

"What is it?" Robotnik sounded almost fed up as he turned around to look at the TV screen, "I have to keep looking at-" He stopped short when he saw what was actually on the screen. "Is this…this isn't real, is it?" Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were almost halfway out of their sockets.

"No mistake," Guerrez replied flatly, "looks like your main nemeses are here."

The news channel was very clearly showing Sonic and Tails helping out in the areas that had just been struck by the missiles, carrying wounded and dying victims to safety, among other tasks. The first thing Robotnik thought was that it was extremely unlikely that they just so happened to be here on this island on the same day they had chosen to attack, though it looked like the media was wondering about that as well.

The fat man was now visibly steaming. "Of all the goddamn times they could come and appear…I think I know now what the next targets for our planes are!"

At this moment Guerrez's radio broke its silence again as the ARA troops on the front line gave their latest reports, and they sounded less confident than they did earlier. It quickly caused him to frown before he gave his own reply. Then he elaborated to Robotnik, "Looks like the military are stepping up their game against us. All their forces from their southern base have deployed for a counterattack against us in the villages. We must deal with them first."

"Are you kidding me? This is Sonic we're talking about! He's right here!"

"And they are not engaged in fighting for now," Guerrez answered calmly. "Once the X-1s are ready again, we must use them in defense of our proletariat allies. In the meantime, if you really want to bomb those two, I suggest you get working on the third plane's upgrades immediately, or at least give instructions to our boys out there on how to do so," he continued somewhat firmly.

It was the first time Alejandro had ever talked like that to Robotnik, who remained quiet at his instructions. "Fine, I'll do it myself," he said reluctantly, almost obediently too. That too was the first time he ever used such a tone. He found that he didn't like it one bit. "But I'll need a ride, of course."

* * *

><p>"So Shuster couldn't get to him?"<p>

"Nope. Got the plant manager, though. Said he was looking pretty normal, at least by the standards of these last few months, before the bad news came in. He apparently became really ill after hearing it, and I think the manager meant it literally, so the trip was cut short and he left. Who the hell knows where he is now."

"You surprised?"

A scoff. "Not really. Anyway, just one more room left," Doherty said into the phone as he went down the corridor with several agents following him. They were on the seventh floor of the building opposite GUN's, which was newly renovated and had plenty of rental space available. "What do we know about what's happening in Adabat so far?"

"It's pretty bleak," Warner replied. Alan could tell from his tone that he was shaking his head. "The buildings confirmed to be destroyed are the President's Palace, Congressional Building, Adabat Media Center, and the main offices of virtually all of the largest corporations in Adabat, local and foreign. There's also the mansion of their richest CEO. Estimates are at least ten thousand dead."

_Holy shit_. "Including most of their cabinet?" he asked, not sounding hopeful.

"Yeah," Ryan confirmed, "their President right now was the Interior Minister, I think, just a few hours ago…we're still trying to contact him."

"Alright, then what about that file Shuster gave us?" he asked further as he reached the last unoccupied room that could be used to spy over Mayes' office. He was thankful that there weren't that many of them. The roof had already been searched by other agents, though they didn't find anything, presumably because such a spot would be a little too obvious and too high up.

"Right, uh, it showed us what I suspected and told you about last night. Long story short, it looks like that's exactly what he did – smuggling X-1 components that are restricted from being exported out of the storage facilities and putting them into the warehouse that night and allow those guys to take it. He did it in very small numbers over the last few months, pretty long, so that he could disguise them as accounting errors."

Alan stopped and blinked at this new information. It distracted him enough that he gestured at the other agents with his hand to continue searching the apparently empty office rooms while he kept talking. "Then…we have it right there then," he replied.

Normally, this would be accompanied by a strong sense of justice prevailing. Instead, it only raised more questions. "Wait, hold up," he said, sounding confused. "Shuster said he typed this thing himself and asked her to give it to us."

"That's just what I was thinking. Why the hell would he do that?" Warner agreed. "And actually, Alan, there's something else as well."

"What is it?"

"As I looked through the document I noticed certain typo errors. At first I ignored them, but then I realized they were appearing at rather specific locations every few pages. Something tells me it's not random."

Intrigued, Doherty took about ten seconds to think and reply. "Is it a code? You looking through it?"

"The analysts have been looking at it for about half an hour already. But…I don't know, man. I got a bad feeling about this."

Alan sighed. "Don't we always?"

"Hey, Alan, we found something!" One of the agents nearby called out, sounding almost excited. "Better check this out!"

"Give me a moment," he said to Ryan before going over to the agent near the window. "What've you found?"

The man held up a small object in his rubber-gloved hand. Upon closer examination, Doherty realized it was a flat, circular piece of plastic, probably a few millimeters thick. "Ryan, we found something," Alan reported, "it looks like a lens cap of some sort, probably belonged to a camera or…binoculars? It was on the floor right next to the window with the best view of Mayes' office, too."

There was no reply at first. "Ryan?" You there?"

"Yeah, I hear you, wait, give me a sec…" After that, Alan could hear the sounds of some other agents speaking with Ryan, though they were too far to be heard clearly. After a minute or so, he finally came back. "Alan," he said, now sounding strangely worried, "you won't believe what we found."

"What's wrong?"

"We put all the typo error characters together. It's a message. It, uh, it says…" Warner glanced down at the sheet of paper he had been given to read the badly spelt but unsettling words. "It says, 'He's watching me and my family. Help.'"

If Warner was uncomfortable with this discovery, or rather, these discoveries, he looked rather normal compared to Alan's expression now. "He?" Doherty said loudly in shock. "Son of a bitch…"

"Got that right," Ryan concurred solemnly. "Oh yeah, back to Adabat, there's one last thing."

"Great, what the hell is it this time? Another flying fortress?"

"Uh, not exactly. We just got word. The fighting on Adabat has turned into a full blown war. We still don't know how it happened, but the ARA's captured a whole bunch of the military's hardware, and their original owners are getting their asses kicked. So here's the thing: a bunch of ships from the Pacific Fleet, those guys who took down that thing you mentioned six months ago, are out on a joint exercise with the Canadians. But they also happen to have a lot of live munitions with them, and…hey, Alan, wait a minute," he said before pausing for several seconds. It sounded like he had just turned the news back on. "Alan, believe it or not, Sonic's on TV, telling about what happened last night. You okay with that?"

Doherty simply sighed again. He was used to receiving so much info in such a small amount of time. "Considering what just happened, I guess it's better this way," he finally replied, "but back to the Navy. What were you on about?"

* * *

><p>"We're supposed to have destroyed those planes last night. We had no idea that they had more," Sonic said to the CNN reporter before sighing heavily again for the umpteenth time. He had never appeared so somber in public before, without his trademark grins or thumbs ups. "But we can't mope over that now, it's just too late for that," he added nevertheless, "all we can do now is to keep doing what we're doing here. So, yeah, if you'll, uh, excuse me," the hedgehog added on a final note before running back out onto the streets, which was completely blocked off by the remains of a destroyed skyscraper.<p>

Next to the sidewalk, Tails had just come out of a telecommunications office, which had served as Adabat's chief internet service provider and was damaged in the attacks. "Hey," Sonic called out as he approached his friend, "so how'd it go? You managed to fix it?"

"Yeah," the fox replied weakly, "the damage wasn't too bad. I tested the connection myself. It works, at least inside there." As he spoke, Sonic noticed that his gaze looked rather distant.

The hedgehog usually would have just asked if he was okay, but it was blatantly obvious here that nothing or nobody was. "You, um, saw something?" Sonic asked instead, in a soft voice, reflecting his concern in his own eyes.

Slowly, Tails turned to make eye contact with Sonic, hoping that his normally confident best friend could give him some sort of emotional support or boost somehow. Unfortunately, it was clear from the looks on his face that the hedgehog felt genuinely helpless as well in the face of this disaster. "I just…" he finally began, voice now getting softer and cracking, "I saw another man die inside there."

Both of them had performed a bunch of rescues since they came here a few hours ago, and though they managed to save some people were trapped or in danger, there were others too injured to make it. Now knowing how much more of that he could bear to see, however, Tails looked downward, and the rest of his body did something similar. His large ears drooped, and his namesakes lay limply on the ground, both of which indicated a less than happy fox.

He didn't say any more, but he didn't have to. Despite the chaos and horror around them, it was all momentarily forgotten as Sonic moved up and gave him a hug. Tails quickly returned the gesture. "The only thing I just don't get," he continued, not crying, but sounding like he was very close to it, "is…why?"

Sonic himself was feeling pretty horrible at the moment too, and it wasn't just because of what was happening around him. He really should be saying something that could help make his friend feel better. The problem was that this actually impacted him much harder due to his own experience. Every time he turned around to look at the damage, he kept feeling like he was five years old again, back in the town where his parents and many others died just like this.

He could always think of some witty or encouraging remark in any scenario, with the sole exception of this kind. "I wish I knew," he replied blankly. "I really do."

Standing motionlessly now, both of them now needed something to snap them out of their inaction. Fortunately, it came in the form of beeping from Tails' wrist device. Already knowing who it was, the fox shook his head vigorously before answering the call. "Yeah, Alan?" he asked, managing to keep a surprisingly steady voice.

"Hey, so how are things there?" Doherty's voice asked, though he sounded like already knew what the answer would be.

Another sigh from Sonic. "Bad. Shortest way I can put it," he said unenergetically, "though we'll do what we can to help here for now."

"Your efforts are appreciated," Alan replied, "both what you're doing now and what you did yesterday. Don't blame yourselves."

"Yeah, we'll try not to."

"Anyway, we've made a major breakthrough in our investigation here. We're finally getting close. But Sonic, you know that Adabat City's not the only place that got attacked, right?"

Both hedgehog and fox quickly looked at each other upon hearing that, now appearing even more troubled. They had focused so much on what occurred here that they somehow forgot to consider that that wasn't all. "What do you mean?" Sonic asked anyway.

"There's a battle raging on in the rest of country. I mean, they've always been fighting each other in the countryside, but with those planes in ARA hands it's been taken all the way up to eleven now, damn it. We'll only get confirmation in a few more hours, but…" There was a moment's hesitation before he finished it. "…all signs show that this could now be something that may require our intervention. And now that I think about it, yours too."


	8. Chapter 7: Night of Error II

**Chapter 7: Night of Error II**

It was not going as smoothly as Guerrez wished. The military had been more prepared than they had thought, and the fighting was now happening right outside the base that had belonged to them just a few hours ago, in the midst of various villages, farms, and more hilly jungles.

"We cannot let them have that place back," Guerrez, who remained in the caves while Robotnik had gone to the captured base, declared into the radio, "keep driving them away! What exactly is the problem you're having?"

"They're bringing in everything they've got," a captain on the other line answered hurriedly. Loud gunfire and explosions could also be heard in the background. "Helicopters, airstrikes, IFVs, and even with the auto buggies we are only on equal footing with them at most."

"You have helicopters now too!" the ARA leader shouted back in frustration.

"Yes, but not enough people that know how to use them!" The ARA actually had a few defectors from the military who were pilots or drivers, but simply not enough to make a difference in this head-on battle. "Those vehicles are best reserved for post-revolutionary use, after we find the time and chance to train everyone for them. But for now, they are nothing more than trophies."

"Then what about the UAVs? That base has more of them, right? Aren't they helping?"

"Yes, but without trained staff, loading their munitions is a slow process. And the only man that can do that quickly _and_ control them is busy right now."

Letting out a 'hmph', Guerrez switched to another radio to speak to his most valued technician. "Robotnik, status report!"

"Just putting on the finishing touches on the third X-1," Robotnik, who was in a hangar, replied nonchalantly as he placed the last piece of stealth plating onto the plane's body. "You should be glad that the practice I've gotten let me complete this much faster."

"What about the slower ones?" the leader asked, referring to the few MQ-9 Reapers the Adabat Air Force also had, which were meant to complement the X-1s.

"Those have different controls. I'll figure those out later," the fat scientist replied impatiently.

"Alright, fine, get the ones that are ready in the air now!"

Robotnik stepped away from the plane and walked over to the large X-1 ground control computers that had been transported all the way here from the caves, now located next to the hangar wall. He started them up and began manipulating the controls, while grinning maliciously at the same time. The plan was still the same as they'd discussed. The first two X-1s would be used to assist ARA forces, where areas the newly acquired third one – even though it was supposed to be the fifth - would be used on that blue hedgehog and his fox friend. _Just as they think I'm too busy to deal with them, BOOM!_

His thoughts and typing process were interrupted when some explosions went off outside, all very loud and dangerously near the hangar he was in. Heart racing, he looked outside to see a few cruise missiles coming in. Fortunately, they seemed to be smaller models, and their trajectories suggested that their users weren't aiming at him. Yet.

An ARA guard nearby who was shaken by the booms quickly took up a pair of binoculars and looked into the distance. "It's the navy!" he shouted after taking a few seconds to look properly, although it was redundant as Robotnik could already guess, just from the direction alone, that only ships could be firing these weapons.

Still aware that he was definitely within their range, however, he quickly realized that the only weapon that could be used against them was standing right next to him, its engine already hot and ready to run.

He turned his attention back onto the controls and pushed the thruster all the way forwards, causing the X-1 to take off loudly. He had not modified the control console for this third plane to function more autonomously yet like the first two, so he had to handle it manually while the other two planes, which had been parked nearby but elsewhere earlier, did their bombing runs against the Adabat Army by themselves.

Thankfully, no more cruise missiles came in as it lifted off from the runway. Robotnik maneuvered the X-1 to the east, towards the coast, which was quite near the base. The view from its camera showed that there were a relatively large number of ships that needed to be sunk, possibly even requiring more than one trip. He started to curse under his breath. _I'm supposed to be using this plane to bomb Sonic, not you!_

The impulse of anger he felt was enough to make him fire its weapons immediately. They weren't specifically designed to take down naval targets, but they would have to do here. The ships were also firing back with their own anti-air missiles, but he had outfitted the X-1s with his signature Aggressive Defense System, the same one his flying fortress had, which he was sure would serve nicely against them.

And it looked like it did as the point defense missiles exploded in midair, some of which were pretty near the ships themselves too. Then, finally deciding to launch his own, he adjusted the targeting system and mashed a button. Within a few seconds, he claimed his first naval kill. He almost expected a number score to pop out from the exploding ship like in a video game. _Well_, he thought, _that's what you get for wasting my time!_

* * *

><p>"So we've finally confirmed that someone's been coercing Mayes into shipping that stuff to the ARA while spying on him and his family," Doherty said frankly to his boss McLaughlin, who was frowning and holding his chin behind his desk, "but we still haven't been able to contact him or find out where he's gone. We'll keep looking."<p>

"Very well," the old man acknowledged with a nod, "but they must have a way of keeping track of him all the time when he's not in his office."

"They could easily have tapped his phones using roving bugs much like ours, forced him to wear a small microphone on his person, things like that."

"Hmm…" McLaughlin briefly stayed silent, and then asked, "What do you plan to do next? What's your take?"

"Well, whoever was watching Mayes must have abandoned their eavesdropping point near his office the moment they saw us coming. But it doesn't look like they know about the secret message he'd written for us. We have some guys watching over his family members right now, and so far nothing's happened to them.

"But here's the thing: there are definitely people, likely ARA, who are doing the same, and they're doing a damn good job of staying hidden. If we reveal ourselves to his family, they'll likely come out guns blazing, and we have to avoid firefights wherever we can. Not to mention they'll probably kill Mayes before he reappears, and we need him to tell us the truth."

At this point McLaughlin looked away from Doherty as he had just received some new information on his computer. "Well, I'll be," he remarked, sounding displeased, "looks like the Adabat Navy is taking it hard too. And considering the relatively nearby presence of ours and Canada's, I think I know what's going to happen next."

_Great_. "Yeah, I think so too," Alan said as he rolled his eyes. _The international reaction to this is going to be just awesome_.

The office door suddenly burst open as a frantic Ryan Warner ran in. "Sir, Alan, we've found Mayes! He's just shown up again!"

The hearts of the other two men skipped a beat as they heard the update. They both stared at him curiously without saying a word.

"We've received word that he just got into his car and drove off in Simi Valley, not too far from the plant."

"Anyone with him?" Alan asked.

"None, he's alone. And with this traffic, the sun will definitely have gone down when he finally gets here."

No one said anything for a full twenty seconds. "Okay, so now what?" the SAIC asked. "Have any of you discussed ideas on how to get him to safety?"

Doherty and Warner looked at each other. Then they nodded, and Alan turned back to face his boss. "Actually, sir," he said almost suggestively, "we indeed have."

* * *

><p>"Are you absolutely sure they still don't know about what we're doing?" Guerrez's typically stern voice asked over the phone.<p>

"Not likely," the man in the front passenger seat replied, trying to keep calm. He and his comrades were focusing on Mayes' Buick in front of them, which wasn't hard due to the jam. The 118 was hardly spared from the infamous traffic here, especially at this hour. "They may have found the warehouse, but as far as the FBI is concerned, Mayes has simply allowed Robotnik to offer him solutions on how to fix his planes and therefore a road to profit, in exchange for info on how to hack them and take over Adabat."

Guerrez grunted before replying, "We can't assume nothing more will go wrong. Too much already has. Keep watching him and his family."

"_Sí, señor_." After that, the conversation ended. In the backseat, another man couldn't help but glance at the pair of binoculars in his nearby bag, which was missing a lens cap. He gulped, hoping he didn't drop it where he thought he did, but consoled himself with the fact that they could easily make up for it later. Maybe it was irrelevant. Hopefully.

Putting the cell phone aside, Guerrez slumped in the wooden chair grumpily. He berated himself for being so confident earlier, having somehow expected the war to be won so decisively. Sure, they had the help of high-tech machines now, but so did the Adabat Armed Forces. And they had far more people that knew how to use them. The ARA only had one. Not that Robotnik wasn't doing his best, so far, but…

That was when he remembered the other thing Adabat's military had that the ARA didn't, at least not really: allies. It made him open his eyes wide.

Slowly, he picked up the remote to turn on the TV again, likely one of the few left in the country that still could receive Western news channels thanks to that satellite dish Robotnik installed some time ago. And when he saw the latest news there was, it damn near stopped his heartbeat. The feelings that immediately rose up inside him included disgust and anger, but not surprise. It was really too typical and predictable.

_Then what am I sitting here for?_ Realizing that the time he and his underlings had was limited, Guerrez got up and went over to another radio. It was time to force this onto the right course. Time to be the leader his brother never was. Time to not repeat mistakes, and to actually move his chess pieces correctly. And he already had a good move, at least for now, in his mind. "This is your leader, Guerrez," he spoke with an air of authority, "I need to know how many men you can spare. Pick the veterans if you can. I have a job for you in Adabat City."

* * *

><p>"So it's confirmed?" Sonic asked using Tails' wrist device.<p>

"Yeah, the White House and Ottawa just announced it. Probably because of what's happening to Adabat's navy," Doherty's voice replied, "should probably arrive in a few hours, just after the sun goes down."

"Why Canada though?" Tails asked out of curiosity.

"Several Canadian tourists were killed in the attacks. Their government's not too happy about that, and they have ships out there with us, so I imagine that they simply went 'yeah, let's get those bastards'."

"Okay, but what about us? What are we gonna do?" the hedgehog then inquired. In front of him, Tails also appeared willing to know.

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "I don't really know," Alan admitted, "I can't coordinate a whole new mission for you, not with most of the people that I had to do it with dead. Not to mention I'm busy preparing for my own op here." There was an uncomfortable pause of a few seconds. "I hate to say this, but it looks like you're on your own for now. Do what you can, but if you really want to head into the battlefield, watch the hell out. I imagine both of you are used to only Robotnik firing the shots. Here, both sides are doing it, and with way, way more people, and…I don't know, it's just much more complicated than what you've ever seen, and there's no way to describe it. Just watch yourself and try not to let it get to your head. That's all I can say."

Alan's incoherent advice reminded Sonic and Tails of the fire exchange that they experienced at that cave entrance. They tried to imagine a much larger scale version of that event around them, but it wasn't easy. All the time, it had always been the two of them on one side and a whole bunch of robots on the other that had to be knocked out, plain and simple.

_We really don't know what a human war is like, huh?_ Sonic thought bleakly. Of course, calling them 'human' wars wasn't exactly fair – they happened between mobians happened back on his planet too, though the arrival of Robotnik as a threat ended up pushing many of those aside, and so he and Tails never had to experience them.

"We'll…we'll manage," the hedgehog said quietly. He looked around him. There were still too many fires, too many wounded, too much destruction, and too little help. "It'll have to come later. We gotta get back to the rescuing. But we'll definitely do something about them. I promise."

"Good luck to both of you," Doherty wished solemnly, "I have to get back to my work. Bye."

Once the call ended, the duo immediately headed back towards the site of one of the destroyed skyscrapers, still surrounded by firefighters and EMTs that were frantically doing their jobs. It was definitely the right thing to do, or at least, there was nothing wrong with it, but they still felt left out somehow, like they were only solving a symptom of the whole problem. The people responsible for this were still out there. There had to be some way that they could contribute that was more…straightforward.

And such an opportunity was about to come right to them.

* * *

><p>With the Federal Police HQ gone, the no longer organized police patrols were scattered all over town dealing with the sites of destruction, unrest and looting, while the military was stretched thin trying to deal with the ARA and their newly obtained firepower. There simply weren't many people available to watch the borders of the city and control access to it, especially since there were so many routes other than the highways, such as dirt paths, that led in and out. Guerrez was fully aware of these facts, and had decided to use them to his advantage.<p>

The two target buildings were about a block apart, and were reasonably far away from the streets, which meant that not many would be looking at them – at least not until the next phase of the plan. The people that needed to get into them the moment the crisis started, all of whom were tourists, were already all inside, believing that these were the only safe places for them now in all of Adabat. Of course, none of them knew the ARA too well.

Each team had twelve men, and they coordinated with each other via radio. One of them drove their vans up the side of the fence of the two-storey building that was larger than the other one, their brakes bringing them to a screeching stop on the grass. Actually assembling the teams was the hardest part, but once that was done, getting the vehicles and sneaking into the city was relatively easier, especially with the sun already setting and the fact that this neighborhood had poor lighting.

The doors on each van opened, and a number of ARA members, most of whom were experienced veterans, frantically rushed out with the assault rifles in their hands already locked and loaded. They then climbed over the vehicles onto their roofs in order to jump over the fence. Before them, the flag in the middle of the front courtyard – namely, that of the United States – was fluttering in the wind. Depending on how things went, by tomorrow, it would no longer be doing so.

* * *

><p>The atmosphere in the large room full of American tourists was mostly a tense, somber silence, with a few people trying to chat in order to lighten up the mood, while the others simply fell asleep. That was until they heard the distinctive sounds of gunfire coming from outside.<p>

They had already been shocked by the attacks outside earlier today, and the indication that it was going to spill over in here instantly caused many to cry out in panic. The only ones that didn't were the Marine security guards, who first tried to contact their colleagues outside using their radios, but got no response. They quickly got their rifles out and headed for cover behind the stone pillars before taking aim at the main door.

But the ARA had a more dynamic entry in mind. Seconds later, the walls to each side of the room were suddenly blown open by explosive charges. Caught off-guard, the Marines quickly turned to try and shoot, only to be gunned down by the more prepared ARA veterans through the large, newly created holes.

By this point the whole crowd and gone completely hysterical and were trying to run out of the room. The intruders swiftly put an end to that idea by firing several warning shots into the ceiling, freezing everyone in place. It was much easier than shouting.

The gunmen took positions around the room just in case more Marines came. Fortunately, the rest of the team had already taken care of the remaining ones in the armory and security room. This embassy, it seemed, was understaffed. Wondering if it was the same on the other side, one of the men took out his radio while still aiming his weapon at the frightened group. "This is Team One," he began in Spanish, "Team Two, report in on your situation."

"This is Team Two," the fuzzy but audible voice replied, "we have secured the Canadian embassy. All the guards are dead. We can begin the broadcast immediately."

"Copy that," the gunman replied before walking over to one of the holes in the wall. "Ricardo!" he called out to someone outside, "bring the camera and equipment in!"

* * *

><p>Carrier Strike Group Nine consisted of nine ships, including its aircraft carrier, the <em>USS Abraham Lincoln<em>, although contrary to initial reports, only one of its destroyers, the _Sterett_, had been involved in taking down Robotnik's flying fortress six months ago. Now paired together with three Canadian ships, they were a force that could confidently take on any enemy. And the ARA was one they were looking forward to deal with very much after what they had done.

Of course, they had to get within range first, and the ARA now had the ability to bring their voyage towards Adabat to a complete halt. It wasn't even by using Robotnik's new toys either, but by merely sending a simple message.

"Sir?" a young ensign nervously addressed the rear admiral, the head of the entire strike group, after practically running into the bridge of the _Lincoln_, "there's something on the news that you better see."

The elderly rear admiral seemed annoyed by this at first, but he nodded and followed the man down to another room with a TV set. When he got there, he saw that all the men and women in there were watching the news with clear expressions of worry. The reason for this became clear to him after watching the broadcast for several seconds.

Although alarmed, he nevertheless kept his cool and headed back up to the bridge. He kept what his orders short. "Stop the carrier," he commanded the captain, "and someone tell everyone else to do the same. Now."

* * *

><p>"We have taken everyone in the US and Canadian embassies, including the ambassadors, hostage," the man with a balaclava over his head in the video said in accented but threatening English. To show that he was not joking, the camera shifted to show the bunch the terrified hostages, a few of which were children, kneeling on the floor with gunmen behind them. "We are aware of the naval fleet you are sending over. Neither the US, nor Canada, nor any other country is to interfere until the revolution is complete, and even beyond that.<p>

"No, you are to turn your fleet around and go back to your port. If we detect that your ships approach Adabat even one more mile - and we know how to do that - we will kill everyone here. Any rescue attempt and we also kill everyone here. And we will move on to more embassies to do the same, the ones of each country that have been helping the government and the US to keep the people of Adabat down for decades.

"You would never care for the possible loss of Adabatian lives, and that is why it has come to this. The lives of your own citizens, the only lives you care for, are in your own hands. If they die, you will be the ones to answer to their families. Much like how you are the ones that should answer for all the misery you have ever caused here.

"Once the revolution is complete, we will allow the hostages to return to your countries. Whether that happens is your decision."

"God _damn it_!" Alan slammed the wooden table hard in frustration after the video playing on the TV came to an end. "I knew the news and their big mouths would cause shit like this to happen!"

"Well, it was the White House that made the announcement in the first place," Warner pointed out in a tone of disbelief. "Jesus, this is the ARA we're dealing with here, not a bunch of Che Guevara wannabes. What were they thinking?"

Everyone else in the office was discussing it loudly and frantically, but neither Alan not Ryan heard anything. "Let me guess, the Federal Police…is in no shape to try a rescue attempt."

"Nope. Not that they ever were, frankly speaking," Ryan answered, remembering some of their disastrous fiascos the last few times the ARA took foreign nationals hostage.

"No Spec-Ops or SEALS that can be sent in?"

"Theoretically, there are, but they need time to get there – time neither we nor their military have. Deploying them is also kinda risky anyway. I'm not doubting their abilities, but considering what that guy said, that they have ways of detecting any foreign fleet nearby…"

There was a tense pause. Alan went over to the water dispenser for a drink. After relieving his thirst, he started talking again. "So I guess there're only two people that can save them now," he remarked while shrugging. "Again."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Sonic and Tails answered another one of Alan's calls while helping to bring more wounded to the hospital, and they were told to check the latest news on any major western news website. With the Adabat Media Center gone, all cable and satellite TV were down, making this the only way for them to find out about this development at all.<p>

"Hostages again, huh?" Sonic remarked with a heavy sigh, "I was hoping not to have to deal with that again for a while."

"I'm sorry to put this on you both, but I really don't know who else can do it. Not to mention you've had experience with something like this."

"Yeah, but those were robots," the hedgehog replied quickly, "and, I don't know, human hostage takers? Not exactly the same."

"You already know how to subdue them non-lethally as shown by what you did in those caves. Sonic, you're normally more confident than this."

"Well, it's easier to be that way when thousands of people hadn't already died yet," Sonic said with an unusually sharp tone.

Alan ignored it and continued, "Regardless, there're two of you and you're right there. The ARA likely doesn't know you've managed to fix the internet and learn about this, or that you're even in contact with me. You have the element of surprise. Just go inside some ruined building like you're going to rescue someone else, slip out the back to escape the press cameras and head to the embassies. You should hopefully be able to look up their building layouts online, and then observe the situation inside from the outside before planning everything.

"Just to remind you, the alternative to this is to let the ARA, which could really mean Robotnik, take over the country. We can't guarantee the Adabat military's victory anymore unless the Navy gets there. Are we clear?"

They had spent the last few hours providing aid to the attack victims, so focused on it that they had forgotten about that threat, somehow. When put that way to them, it was pretty clear which outcome was worse. "You're right. And I guess this is sorta what we've been wondering about earlier, about having a clear way of going against them. Not saying it's good this happened, mind you, just that we now know exactly what to do. Yeah, we're going in. Thanks for reminding us, Al."

"That's what I wanted to hear," he said with a sigh of relief. "You better get moving. Good luck. Doherty out."

Putting down his cell phone, he turned back to Warner with an exasperated sigh. "Solved that for now. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. Ryan, you still have that van, right?"

* * *

><p>"Can't believe I didn't think of all that," Tails began saying after setting his wrist device off, "about how the ARA doesn't know that we know. But we still gotta act fast, 'cause if we disappear from the cameras for too long, they'll probably realize what we're up to. They're definitely watching the news from inside the embassies, and maybe elsewhere too if they managed to get their own satellite dishes up."<p>

"I guess. Let's go check out the embassy floor plans," Sonic suggested as he started moving. "The internet's only working inside the telecom building, right?"

"Yeah, for now at least." Tails began to follow the hedgehog around the block to Adabat Telecommunications, which also meant temporarily popping back into view of the news cameras in the area. Once they got in, the fox led his friend to a spot where a laptop could be used, the same one he'd used earlier to type his blog post, and where a badly wounded man had slowly died right beside him. Fortunately, his body had already been removed.

There was another concern on Tails' mind as he started up the laptop. "Sonic," he called out quietly, "I'm just worried about one other thing."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"It's just…" He tried to think of a short way to put it to the hedgehog while the laptop started up. "There are two buildings, so we'd have to split up, each of us taking one. And, well…" The fox said the rest by not saying it at all, simply looking into Sonic's green eyes with his blue ones.

That uncertain glance in the latter was one the hedgehog immediately recognized, one he'd seen in his young friend a few times before. "You're worried you might make a mistake because you'll be alone?"

Glad that Sonic understood so easily, Tails reluctantly nodded. "After that last time in the warehouse…Sonic, I'm just so scared I'll get someone shot again, that something worse might happen. And there're so many hostages here." The look on his face was becoming more desperate.

"Well, something worse _will_ happen if we don't do something, at least," Sonic answered. "Sorry, bud, I just don't really know what else to say. Maybe…don't let the same thing last time get to you."

Tails opened up the browser and looked up the floor plans, while considering Sonic's words. "I got freaked out by a lightning strike…thankfully the weather now looks clear. As long as that doesn't change, at least it won't happen again. I just have to make sure not to screw up some other way."

"See? Now we're getting somewhere. Hmm…" Sonic was looking closely at the floor plans, as well as photographs of the interior and exterior, of the US and Canadian embassies in Adabat on the screen. "Tell you what, you take the Canadian embassy and I take the American one. The Canadian one seems smaller, so maybe it'll be easier for you, I guess. Or at least you'll be less anxious about it."

They looked at each other silently again. "Okay, sure."

"And hey, you might even make a few Canadian friends after this," he couldn't resist adding with a chuckle. "Anyway, seriously, you'll of course have to give me that earpiece so that we keep in touch. Maybe I'll even keep encouraging you, if you want." Despite the circumstances, Sonic managed a small smile. "It won't be that bad, bro. You're great at solving problems. I can't imagine something like this would stop you. Just trust yourself."

After a brief silence, the fox returned a smile as well. "I will. But that's mainly 'cause I trust you, Sonic. I think that's good enough."

* * *

><p>They followed Alan's suggestion, going into a damaged but still standing building, ostensibly to repair something inside there, before slipping out into the back alleys to disappear from the news cameras. Tails had downloaded a map of the city into his wrist device, and after Sonic made sure he remembered where to go, they parted ways. The fox had been reluctant to do so, but pushed himself to keep going after remembering Sonic's words and tips.<p>

Getting to the embassies undetected was rather simple – they only had to leap over a few blocks of roofs to do so. They eventually reached their own respective vantage points that looked over each embassy.

"You there yet, Tails?" Sonic asked as he carefully observed the blocky stone building, noting that there were a few large holes on the first floor wall that led outside.

"Just arrived," Tails' voice came in loud and clear over the earpiece as the fox watched over the building with the Canadian flag in front.

"Anyone saw you?"

"Not to my knowledge. I didn't hear anyone say anything about us," he replied, sounding a bit self-conscious, though for a reason different than usual.

Sonic watched the few guards that were patrolling the embassy's sides and compound outside. "They're not reacting down there, so I guess we're still secure."

"Same here. Anyway, from what we could see in the video they showed, most, maybe all of the hostages are in each embassy's main hall. So that room's our main priority."

"Yeah, I can see a few of them inside from here already. They actually blew a bunch of holes into the outside walls, believe it or not."

There was a small gasp of surprise. "Really? Wow, they're really not messing around. What do you see? How many? Inside and outside?"

"I can see five guys outside," Sonic counted, "two guys inside, one at each hole. But the video showed way more gunmen, hard to be sure. What about you?"

"A few guys, three so far, outside…looks like the rest got in through the windows," Tails reported, looking at the window frames to the sides whose glass had been smashed open. "Can only see a few people inside, though…" Following a sigh, he continued, "Sonic, it's not gonna work like this."

"You mean that what we can observe from out here is too limited? Yeah, I've been getting that feeling too. What else do you think we should do?"

Tails fortunately had an idea. He checked the floor plans he'd downloaded before telling Sonic about it. "The floor plans just now indicated that each embassy has a security room, both on the second floor. We'll have to get there and check the cameras for the exact positions of just about everyone inside. It's the room to the rear left corner of the building for you, Sonic."

"Got it," Sonic answered as he looked at the spot Tails said. "Hmm, looks like there's an open window there I can use."

"Alright, that's good. I have to shift around to another roof to see whether it's the same for me, and at the same time see all patrols they have outside. Sonic, you should do the same."

"Okay. Better to see if there're more people that I can't from here."

"They'll have definitely kept at least one guy in the security room though, so try and take them out without the others noticing. And remember, don't let the press see you," Tails added hastily before moving out. In front of the Canadian embassy, and presumably the US one as well, there were several news vans with crew pointing their cameras at the front gate. Next to them were a few police cars, but aside from flashing their emergency lights, there was little the Feds could do, not with most of their SWAT team that had been based in their HQ wiped out.

Neither those people nor any of the ARA hostage takers saw Tails as he spun his namesakes as quietly as possible to get to another rooftop to look at its southern end. Someone else nearby, however, did, and promptly began following him.

* * *

><p>Robert Mayes slowly eased his Buick into his own private parking spot on the street before turning the engine off. In his rearview mirror, he could still see the grey old BMW sedan that had been following him for months several cars behind his, on the other side of the street. It was too dark to see the men inside, but they were undoubtedly keeping their eyes on him.<p>

The CEO of GUN had no idea how to react when he first heard of the news that came in this morning, about how a bunch of advanced fighter jets – the ones his own company made – had massacred at least ten thousand people in Adabat. On some level, of course, he knew that something like this would eventually happen, but thought he had at least prepared himself somewhat for it.

He was utterly wrong. The realization that this day had finally come to pass had hit him just like a bunker buster launched by an X-1, the same type of weapon that had been used to bombard Adabat City's skyscrapers today and the Adabat military right now. It made him feel absolutely sick to his stomach, unable to believe that his product was actually being used this way. Mayes had quickly left the production plant, supposedly to head to another, but the only place he ended up in was an isolated public bathroom somewhere in Simi Valley.

There, Mayes had thrown up and stayed in a toilet stall for almost the whole day. He had no idea who he could face again without overwhelming shame and guilt. His family? The public? The FBI? He sure hoped the latter had managed to figure it all out. The only idea he had had left was to expose everything somehow, even if it meant implicating himself. Not that he had any intention to escape punishment, though. _I deserve it_.

As the sun began to set, the CEO finally decided to get out there to face the consequences. He got back into his car, assured the ARA men assigned to follow him that he hadn't told anyone anything, and had driven back here. So far, though, nothing had happened, which was good, because it meant his family was still safe, but also bad, because there was no sign the FBI had gotten his secret message.

Feebly, Mayes unlocked his doors and got out before closing and locking them again, wondering what his next move could be. It turned out, however, that all he had to do was to be patient.

He was about to walk off the street, wanting to get to the GUN building when vehicle headlights shined on him from behind. There hadn't been any other cars that passed by here due to the time. When he turned around, he saw that it wasn't the BMW, but a black van that was coming up on him rather fast.

Before he could react, the van screeched to a stop right next of him. Its side door slid open, and the next thing he knew, his shoulders were suddenly grabbed by a bunch of strong hands into the vehicle. One of them immediately covered his mouth to prevent him from shouting audibly. The door was closed, and the van's tires spun loudly against the tarmac as the vehicle picked up speed to get out of there.

"Who…who the hell are you!" he tried to ask, but his words were completely muffled by the gloved hand pressing on his mouth. Several figures, it was too dark to tell how many, were with him in the van's cargo compartment, all of whom were wearing balaclavas, gloves and tracksuits.

None of them said anything. One man took out a long, handheld device and moved it around over his body. At roughly chest level, the device started to emit a loud noise. The man put his hand into Mayes' coat pocket there to search for the cause. Finally, he found it and dug out a small bug, the one Robotnik had ordered Mayes to wear on himself since this whole thing started, and had at first been left for him in a mailbox outside the GUN building.

Then, opening the sliding door slightly, the man unceremoniously threw the thing out onto the streets. After it was closed again, the men finally took off their balaclavas. "Mr. Mayes?" Alan Doherty said, believing it was now safe to talk, "we're the FBI, and we got your message." He reached into his own pocket to show his badge and ID. "I'm Agent Doherty, and with me are Warner, Richards and Buford. We visited your office this morning."

Mayes looked at them nervously, but Alan especially. "Wait a minute," he said to Alan, "I know who you are. You're the guardian of Sonic and Tails."

"Yes, I am."

"My God, there's so much I have to tell you – but wait, what about the men watching me? And my family?"

"We've doing the same thing with them. We'll be meeting them soon. Warner," Doherty called out to the driver, "see anything behind us?"

"There's a BMW following us, five people inside, looks like," Ryan reported as he turned the wheel professionally.

"That's them!" Mayes quickly exclaimed upon hearing the description, "they've been following me for months!"

"Let 'em," Doherty stated somewhat confidently, "because starting tomorrow, the only people they'll follow are US marshals and prison guards. If they're lucky."

* * *

><p>"This is Alvarez, a van stopped next to Mayes and whoever's inside abducted him," the man in the front passenger seat reported frantically over the radio while the driver maneuvered the BMW around an intersection, "we are giving chase now."<p>

"What? Did you see their faces?" Guerrez's irate voice yelled over the radio.

"No, sir, we didn't. And it looks like the bug has been removed – we're not hearing anything from inside at all."

"_Dio_, who the hell else could it be?" He was only getting angrier and angrier. "Kill them, and make sure Lopez's team kills his family too!"

"Lopez is reporting the same thing happening to them at the restaurant," a man behind in the back seat said worriedly after ending a call on his cell. "They know, damn it."

"We should start shooting them from here!" the left rear passenger said angrily, taking out an SMG, only for a hand to push it down hard.

"No, it's too crowded here. We're supposed to be professionals," the other responded. "Keep following them. I'll tell Lopez not to get trigger-happy too."

* * *

><p>There was only one gunman inside the security room of both embassies. Slowly climbing up inside through the open window after jumping to it from the perimeter fence, Sonic snuck up to the guy, who was focusing on the security camera screens, and knocked him out with a punch to the face. He would have normally just done a blunt spindash on him, but that would be too noisy here. "Tails, I'm in. How about you?" he whispered.<p>

"I'm in too," the fox replied as he looked down at the unconscious man before him. He hoped nobody outside heard the tailwhip he'd delivered, though this move of his was usually rather quiet. It was probably still better if he learned some nonlethal strangulation techniques, though. He wished he'd asked Alan about them. "Okay, time to check the feeds."

Trying his hardest to ignore the two corpses in the corner of the room, Sonic went up to the security camera console, while listening closely for anyone that was approaching the door outside. Fortunately, there were no footsteps or voices. In the other embassy, Tails did the same, though at least he didn't have any corpses to not look at. He'd seen enough of those today already.

They each checked the feeds carefully. Nearly everyone, including both the hostages and hostage-takers, were in each building's main hall, barring the few guards who were patrolling outside and had thankfully not noticed them come in. The other hallways were pretty much clear.

They took a full minute of checking the feeds before saying any more. "Okay, I think I've got the gunmen's positions down," Sonic reported before slowly moving towards the door, "think I can just spindash them bluntly like in the cave, just quicker."

"Got it," Tails replied, having formed his own plans in mind after watching their positions carefully. Nobody was moving around other than one gunman inside and the guards outside. Next he opened the door and carefully looked down both directions of the corridor. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone. "I just hope I can do the same."

"I know this might sound a bit shocking, bro, but maybe try to pretend the hostages aren't there. Just focus on the guys with guns," Sonic suggested. "That way you won't be so dragged down by worry."

"I understand, I'll keep it in mind," the fox answered in an accepting tone. "What about the guards outside?"

"I'm just gonna pretend they aren't. Big holes and all. You?"

"The windows are pretty big. I guess I'll do the same here."

"Let's move out, then."

A minute later, they each made their way to the corridor adjacent to the main hall, connected by open doorways. "I'm here," Tails whispered as he leaned against the wall near the doorway, "you ready?"

"Just getting into position, hold on…alright, I can spy on most of the room from here."

The quiet sobs of some of the hostages – though the children were quite a bit louder - were easily heard from here. It made both of them shudder. They really didn't feel like waiting anymore. Every second then went by, they reminded themselves, moved victory an inch closer toward the ARA's hands. "You ready to move now?"

"Yeah, on your count, Tails." Sonic was already sounding impatient.

"Okay, just a sec." The fox closed his eyes and took in a deep breath to prepare himself. "Alright, so…three, two, one…" _Here goes nothing_. "Go!"

In a flash, the US embassy's main hall turned into the blue blur's personal pinball room as he jumped out of the doorway, off the wall, and started spinning towards the gunmen whose positions he'd memorized. By the time anyone realized what was happening, Sonic had already knocked down no less than six men, half of their entire group. As he continued his attack by going outside through the holes, some of the braver hostages took advantage of the fact that the gunmen were distracted and started grabbing and hitting the ones that were already down but not unconscious, to be make sure they didn't get back up.

In the Canadian embassy, Tails emulated the move, first by hovering in the corridor, which fortunately was wide enough for him to do that, as were the doorways. This naturally created a fan-like noise, although when the nearest gunman walked up to check on it, he was instantly knocked down, with his face being slapped hard by his spinning namesakes ten times in just one second. He then repeated it on the other ARA veterans, who had never faced an enemy with such abilities before and also got hit by the spinning golden dish, which then zoomed out the broken window towards the patrolling guards. They were lucky not to be at the receiving end of the sharp variant of this attack, not that Tails would ever use it against any living being.

The total elapsed time Sonic took, which would be measured later, to take down all eleven ARA members was 7.02 seconds, if counted from the moment he hit the first guy to when he collided with the last. For Tails, it was 9.20 seconds. They each came to a stop roughly in the middle of the room after they were done, before their stunned audience.

"Clear!" Sonic said, feeling glad to be able to say something out loud again.

"Clear!" Tails repeated, looking around to make sure he didn't miss anything.

That was when one hostage suddenly shouted "Watch out!" and pointed at a corner to the right of the building entrance. The fox followed it to see what it was, and froze. A gunman had somehow hid himself in the corner behind a large plant vase, perhaps in preparation for exactly this scenario, which meant he wasn't visible on the cameras earlier, and Tails also did not notice him during his flying spree. Now he had stood up to reveal himself, and Tails saw that his assault rifle was already aimed straight at the hostages…

A split second later, something happened, but it wasn't his gun firing. Rather, the wall behind the man suddenly collapsed as something smashed through it, crashing into the man and pushing him over the vase. Fortunately, his weapon did not go off as he fell.

Everyone in the room was shocked a second time, though now Tails was also one of them. Relieved that he had avoided that close call, he let out a sigh of relief along with everyone else and looked at the corner, wanting to see what had saved him. When the dust from the ruptured wall finally settled, the answer made them gasp as the outline of the familiar figure became visible. "Knuckles?"

* * *

><p>After several minutes of aggressive driving, the van finally drove straight through a shutter door into a dark warehouse. Still in his adrenaline rush, the ARA driver drove the car all the way inside as well, before he finally came to his senses. "No! What are you doing? Reverse, reverse!" Alvarez was frantically shouting at him.<p>

But it was too late. Before he could even move the transmission from D to R, the lights in the dark room suddenly turned on, revealing their surroundings, both on the ground and the balcony above, to be full of men clad in armor and armed with assault rifles, all aimed straight at them. "This is the FBI! Put down your weapons and come out with your hands above your head!" an agent with a loudspeaker ordered.

Everything and everyone froze for several seconds, but it felt like much longer. The men in the car looked over to where the van had stopped, to the right of the doorway. Its doors were not open, but they could still try and do something about it…

Putting down his cell phone but not turning it off, the rear right passenger slowly raised his MP5 at the van's rear doors. Despite what was certain to happen, it would only take a few shots…

But they never got even that chance. The agents were more alert than they thought, and the instant they saw his gun come up at the window, one of them fired a shot straight into his head. The other ARA members started to panic and tried to get out, which the FBI also interpreted as an aggressive move. Not taking any chances, everyone in the room started gunning them down.

By the time the agents stopped to reload, the BMW and the ARA goons were riddled full of bullets. "All hostiles down!" someone reported.

Only then did the van's doors open up and the men inside step out. Mayes was silent when he looked at the men that could have killed him and his family at any second slumped dead inside the car.

_My family!_ He turned to ask about them, but Alan was already ahead of him. "This is Doherty, all hostiles are down, and Mayes is safe. How's it like over there, over?" he said into a radio.

"All hostiles killed, wife and both kids are safe, over."

For the second time that day, Mayes stood there, not sure how to react. The most appropriate way would be to express relief, but even then, the disbelief that this was finally over caused his words to slip by him.

"It's all over, Mayes. They can't come back for you anymore," Doherty spoke in a sure and assuring manner.

"So…I can tell you everything now," he slowly managed to spit out.

"Yes. But hold on just a moment." Doherty took out his cell phone and placed a call. "Hey, Ryan," he said to Warner, who had also stepped out of the driver's seat, while the dial tone was still beeping, "great driving. Thanks a lot."

"No problem!"

* * *

><p>"I guess that TV and satellite dish you installed for me on Angel Island really came in handy," Knuckles said to a still surprised Tails. "I saw what was happening with the hostages and figured you would need some help. Looks like I was right."<p>

The fox's feelings were now quite mixed. The echidna was indeed correct in what he said, and he was thankful his desire to give Knuckles some means to actually know what was going on around the world while he was on his island, as well as making it less technologically backward, had paid off. The idea had come to him when he learned that there was no way Knuckles would have seen any new broadcast while Robotnik gave his threat on the news six months ago, which almost led to a bloody fight between him and some Marines. He had bought and installed the stuff using the money he'd earned from Edwards and had also forgotten to blog about this, but now it seemed to better this way.

On the other hand, Knuckles' intervention was the only thing that saved the hostages from getting shot by that gunman. Tails realized rather unhappily that his failure to check his surroundings more carefully had almost led to that, and that he still needed someone else to help him at the last second, literally in this case. Still, he didn't want to be ungrateful. "T-thanks," he said quietly, "something worse almost happened there," he continued before looking down at the ground, ears drooping along with an upset expression, "again."

"Don't sweat it. I almost didn't notice him too," the echidna replied to assure him.

"Yeah, that vase and that plant's pretty big, innit?" a thin young man in the crowd added. "Thanks for saving us, guys. And Tails, don't be hard on yourself, dude. You did good."

"Yeah! Otherwise they would have shot all of us," a woman chimed in.

"That was awesome!" a young boy shouted excitedly, and a few others, including some older kids, did the same in agreement.

Tails, who had fully expected to be criticized about how he wasn't fast or alert enough, was stunned by the compliments. He felt his muzzle turning hot and red. "I…thank you, thanks," he replied as he ran a hand through his bangs, feeling his usual awkwardness come back again, "it wasn't anything, I swear. Thank Knuckles instead."

"Don't have to," the echidna quickly responded in his usual straightforward manner, "I only took down one guy. Anyway, how's Sonic doing over there?"

"He says it's clear. Hey Sonic," he said over his own earpiece, "believe it or not, Knuckles is here."

"Oh, really?" the hedgehog said, sounding amused. "Put me on the wrid's speaker, will ya? I wanna talk to him."

The fox was confused for a short moment by the usage of that term before he finally understood. "Oh, sure," he replied, but before he did that, he made a literal note on the wrist device that he should call it that from now on. He couldn't believe he never thought of it. "Okay, you're on."

"Knux!" Sonic's voice greeted. Tails and Knuckles decided to exit through the front door for some privacy. "Thanks for helping, but what brings you here?"

"Well, you know that Tails installed a TV and a satellite dish for me a few months ago, and I saw the news about what was happening here," Knuckles began to explain. "I'm not stupid, Sonic. I know what Robotnik really wants to use those planes for: Angel Island. He wants to bombard the hell out of me as soon as he gets the chance, so I came here while he's still busy."

"Makes sense," Sonic agreed, and Tails nearby was also nodding. "So where do you want to meet up?"

They were interrupted by an unexpected scratchy noise, which they realized came from one of the radios of the unconscious ARA gunmen. Someone on the other end was trying to contact them, but sounded angry at getting no response. All of it was in Spanish and was probably not very polite, but there was one word the man said that they immediately recognized.

Then Tails saw there was another call coming in on his wrist device, or WRID from now on. "Hey, Sonic, wait up, it's Alan, I'll let you hear what he says too," he said before pressing a button. "Yeah?"

"Hey, I just got word about what you guys did. Great job. CSG 9 can now proceed and should be there in an hour's time."

"Just doing what we had to do," Sonic replied casually, "and you gotta thank Knuckles too, he's here with us."

"What?"

"Before you ask," Knuckles began, "I pretty much swam the whole way to this place and snuck through the jungles to Adabat City. I got here after asking some people for directions and telling them not to say anything about my presence here until I was done."

"Um, okay, but where's Angel Island?" Tails asked.

"It's pretty close by, I moved it out here. Can't be more than a few miles now. It's just that there's so much crap happening here that nobody noticed."

"Goddamn. Anyway, Sonic, Tails, big news, listen carefully. We've managed to save the CEO of GUN here," Alan said before adding in a rather unsettled tone, "and he's all but confirmed that Doctor Ivo Robotnik is involved in this."

"I heard his name mentioned on one of the goons' radios here," Tails quickly said, "it's no mystery anymore. He really is here pulling the strings."

Knuckles simply scoffed. "Is it really that much of a surprise? He has enough lives to put a cat to shame."

All of them stood silently, unsure how to continue, except Sonic. "Well, what are we standing around for?" the hedgehog asked, half excitedly and half angrily. He still had not forgotten about the many deaths in Adabat City. "I think it's time we stop being so scared of getting into the war now! Let's meet up at the telecom building. Hope you can help us out, Knux!"

With nothing more to say now, Sonic the Hedgehog raced through the front door and jumped over the main gate, having no time to be stand there and be praised and hugged for his heroism. _That's not heroism_, he thought, _but what we're about to do probably is_.

* * *

><p>"I should have sent Robotnik's buggies there instead just like in that airport!" Guerrez shouted again into the radio before pushing it aside in rage. This was going from bad to worse. The men that were supposed to watch over Robert Mayes had been exposed and killed, likely because they had missed something they shouldn't have, and now his leverage over and US and Canadian navies was gone, all because of that infernal trio.<p>

Robotnik was right. They really should have been targeting Sonic and Tails, and now Knuckles too, all along. Instead they were wasting their munitions out there on highly spread out Adabat Army formations and Air Force helicopters. It was time for that to change. "All units, this is your leader, Guerrez," he said loudly into another radio, "Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are officially on the imperialists' side. They are your new priority targets. If you do not do everything you can to kill them, I will kill all of you _myself_!"


	9. Chapter 8: Lessons Learned II

**Author's Note: Got Battlefield 3 right after the previous chapter and loved it, which explains the delay for this update. After playing it, it's safe to say it will likely have some influence on this chapter and the next few. I'll see what I can do about getting Sonic Generations though.**

**Chapter 8: Lessons Learned II**

They were in the FBI sedan that was on the way to the field office right now, although this time Agent Doherty wasn't driving. He sat in the front passenger seat while Warner took the wheel, as he wanted to talk to the guest they had with them in the back, Robert Mayes. "So how did it begin?" he asked. It was actually better to interrogate him once they got there, but Alan wasn't feeling very patient tonight. He wondered if it were because of the events that had been and were still happening, or because of knowing a certain hedgehog for six months.

"It was…five or six months ago," Mayes began quietly, almost regretfully, "It was nighttime, and I just got this phone call. It was his voice, Robotnik…he proved that he had the ability to record my phone conversations and knew where my family lived, worked and studied…he threatened me with their lives if I told anyone," he continued, sounding obviously disturbed at the recounted memory.

"What did he want you to do?" Doherty asked further, his detached, businesslike tone not revealing any feelings about the man or the ordeal he's been through. That could come later.

"He offered to help fix the problems the X-1s had been having. Underperforming engines, flawed target tracking systems, higher maintenance rate than expected, things like that, and help me achieve profit. In exchange, he wanted me to give him the means to remotely hack and command the planes under the Adabat military's control, the components restricted for USAF use only, as well as the machine tools used to install them, wanting me to place them in some warehouse for ARA members inserted in here to take them."

"So if you ever got caught, you would have been unable to tell anyone about Robotnik's involvement, and to the outside world it would appear that a member of the military-industrial complex was willing to trade with a genocidal madman for the sake of money," Alan continued for him, connecting the dots almost instantly.

"Exactly," Mayes responded. There was a faint sign in his voice that he was glad at how quickly Doherty understood it. "So I…I had to do something. I just wanted someone to find out about it. It was so screwed up. It was either my family, or several thousand innocent people. I didn't want to have to face that choice, didn't want them to get killed…but now it's too late about the latter."

Alan found it rather ironic for someone whose company's sole product was a powerful weapon to say something like that, but he kept quiet about it for now. "Go on. What did you try to do to expose the whole thing?"

Mayes paused for a moment before replying. "It's like this…I know that the fox who lives with you, Tails, he flies to Edwards and back to your house often. Took a month or so, but I eventually figured out the exact routes and times he took in the air, which were almost the same every time. So I decided to switch warehouses. I chose one that was almost directly on the straight line that he traveled in, and told Robotnik to pick up the stuff only at the same times at which he would be flying back home. And then I just sit back and hope he could spot something happening down there…"

"Interesting, but I don't understand something," Alan said, "Tails only found out what was really happening when he saw someone getting beaten up and dragged inside."

"I know. I later realized how a whole bunch of people loading crates wouldn't look unusual at all to any onlooker. So I checked the surrounding area. I was lucky to find out that one of my wife's friends, Frank Roth, worked as a security guard somewhere nearby, and that he stopped work at around the same time. I asked him to park his truck on a street there telling him that its parking rates are cheaper, and they are, but really so that he might catch a glimpse of something wrong when he passed by the warehouse. And it finally worked. I think you know the rest of the story from there, of what else I did."

"So you know that guard?" Doherty asked with visible surprise, then he frowned. "Nice little plan, I admit, but you got him shot, and it nearly happened to Tails too," he admonished, "and if he didn't see it, that man would have died for nothing."

"I'm…sorry," Mayes replied sorrowfully, "I didn't want him or anyone to get hurt." He shook his head. "I guess that part of the plan has failed completely. But the part that did work, it really is to Tails' credit, you know. You should thank him, and I hope…I get the chance to do the same."

"I already have," he simply said, "and I'll see what I can do. But right now, you and I still have other problems to deal with."

* * *

><p>"What's happening?" Sonic wondered out loud as a military convoy rolled past them on the street. It seemed that while he and Tails had been busy dealing with the hostage situation in the embassy, military presence in the city had increased.<p>

"No idea," Tails said, sounding curious too. "We better ask one of them to get ourselves up to speed."

"If I had to guess, I'd say they were getting their asses kicked," Knuckles chimed in cynically.

Numerous soldiers were stationed on top of some of the buildings, and there were more running around on the sidewalks and into some building entrances, apparently trying to get to their positions. Were they fortifying the place?

A few of the Humvees and APCs stopped at a crossroads nearby, and the troops inside disembarked after the powered door opened, before getting rather startled by the sudden appearance of the mobian trio than had just run up to and stopped in front of them. "Hey, sorry, I know you guys are really busy, but could I know what's going on? Anyone know English?" Sonic asked quickly.

The soldiers looked at and spoke to each other in Spanish, while some shook their heads or shrugged at Sonic's question. That was when Tails realized something familiar about them. "Sonic, the insignias on their sleeves are the same as the ones that SF team yesterday wore," he pointed out. "Could it mean…?"

One more man climbed out the back of the APC, confirming Sonic and Tails' suspicions. "Good to see you two again," Sergeant Pedro Rojas said, clutching his M4 and looking beat up and dirty in some areas like the other troops, having obviously been deep in combat earlier. "I see your other friend has arrived," he added as glanced at Knuckles, who didn't say anything.

"Woah, sarge!" a surprised Sonic said, "nice to see you too!"

"Indeed. I heard of what you did in the embassies. Great job, all of you. Better than how we've been doing, frankly."

Sonic looked at their appearances more closely. "You guys look like you've been through hell."

The sergeant simply shook his head. "I first thought like that too, but no. Hell is what Adabat will become if we let Guerrez, his new lackey Robotnik, and his brainwashed subordinates control the country."

"So now you know about Robotnik too?" Sonic did not mention how the boss/lackey relationship would probably make more sense it if were the other way around.

"Considering what we were just fighting? Yes."

"What do you mean? What's happened?"

He sighed loudly before beginning. "We're getting beat, plain and simple. The ARA is controlling most of the eastern countryside, not just with those jets but those robot buggies like the ones that attacked the airport in Los Angeles six months ago. They seemed to have just come out of nowhere…no way do they belong to anyone else. And worst of all, he'd just stolen our last two X-1s, right out of our goddamn base. The military as a whole has lost a whole quarter of its servicemen, most of our navy is gone, and I'm not sure we've caused the same amount of losses back to them. We still have men out there, but a whole bunch of us have been pushed all the way back here in the city, so here's where we're setting up shop. They're on their way here, and this is our last chance to turn the tables around…and we sure wouldn't mind having your help again."

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, appearing quite shocked at the losses the military had taken. Knuckles, however, kept the same indifferent expression. "See what I told ya?" he commented with his arms crossed.

Eventually they faced Rojas again. "Anything to not let Robotnik win, man," Sonic answered immediately, the determination reflected clearly in his tone and eyes, "We're in."

For a brief while, Rojas regarded them silently with a relieved glance. "Thanks a lot. We need to hold them off, at least long enough for the US and Canadian navies to arrive. I'll ask the higher-ups – the ones who are still alive anyway – and see how they can fit you into our plans."

* * *

><p>"Tsk tsk. You really should have told me about this hostage plan of yours before just deciding like that," Robotnik said over the radio after just being informed of Guerrez's latest stunt. "Did you seriously think those two, now three, I see, since it looks like that echidna's not as apathetic or dumb as he looks, would be kept in the dark about it? And considering the last time I tried something like that-"<p>

"The difference between your attempt and mine," Guerrez cut him off sharply with narrowed eyes, "was that mine still served a purpose. We bought enough time for us to drive them off our captured base and most of the countryside into the city. No surprise – of course they would try and protect the remains of their capitalist masters."

"Oh sure, but what happens when the fleet arrives?" Robotnik asked equally sharply. "My X-1s may have performed admirably so far, but we've got hardly any anti-ship weapons, and the closest substitutes, our air-to-ground munitions, don't grow on trees either. Not to mention their ships are more advanced and numerous than Adabat's subpar ones. We have to conserve and decide who you want to wipe out first. And no, before you ask, that submarine is not meant for that kind of warfare," he hastily added, referring to the small emergency sub that was part of the same hardware package that contained the autobuggies, now parked at a small stream deep inside their caves that led out to the ocean.

To this, Guerrez had no answer. The thin, jumpy leader of the ARA paced around his command center, contemplating various ideas. Then he finally thought of something. "You have managed to get the Reapers in the air?" he asked Robotnik.

"Of course. Right after sinking most of their navy. A lot easier than the X-1s, I can tell you that."

"What about the last two X-1s?"

Robotnik turned back to glance at the two newest additions to their, or rather, his armory, outside the hangar. It had been slightly more of a challenge to steal them straight out of their base while they were grounded and inactive, but the boost in firepower, not to mention the satisfaction, was immensely worth it. Such a shame that these were the last ones available on the whole island. "Right here already. I'm working on the upgrades right now, with the last of what Mayes gave us."

"Excellent. Anyway, are the control consoles for the Reapers right next to you?"

"Of course. Can't exactly leave these things now, can I?" Especially since their Ground Control Consoles were large and much less mobile than the ones used by the X-1s, to Robotnik's annoyance.

"Good. Now, I want you to fly one over Adabat City and tell me what you see."

"Already ahead of you on that one," Robotnik informed, sounding very clever, "the morons don't even know what's right over their heads. From what I can tell, it looks like they are taking up positions mostly in the city's southeastern quarter, where they expect your forces to enter. I haven't found them, but I have no doubt that the mobian three are with them now."

"The southeast…" Guerrez took a while to consider the information. He had always checked how the people of Adabat themselves cast their votes, and knew that that part of the city was infamously conservative-leaning, with a mostly upper middle and high class demographic.

At that moment, a light bulb flashed brightly in his head, and without expecting it himself, he let out a cold, harsh laugh which lasted almost thirty seconds.

Robotnik, who was used to hearing that sound coming only from himself, was getting annoyed. "Well?" He asked impatiently.

Finally Guerrez calmed down and responded. "What we need to do," he began, "is to make sure that when their fleet gets here, they have _nobody_ to save."

_Ooh, them fighting words_. "I'm listening," Robotnik said neutrally.

"Get every available aircraft we have in the air," he quickly ordered, his current tone giving zero indication that he had just laughed. "They think we are going into an urban fight just like that, where they might have a chance of repelling us…and then they take that location? As if we would hesitate to hold back?" he continued before chuckling again with a shake of his head. "Drop as much munitions on that area as possible. I'll order the mortar teams to do the same. We can kill three birds with one stone: their forces, those damn mobians, and most of all, the brainwashed voters of the corporate pigs who are still alive. There is no better time to punish them than now. Only then do we sweep in and take over."

"Alright, but what about the military units still in the villages and countryside?" Robotnik asked.

"The reports I am getting are looking up for us and not for them. They can be dealt with solely by our current forces and the autobuggies. I'd expect them to retreat to their two remaining bases soon, which we can take down the same way we did the first by then, and raid more ammo and supplies. Once that is done, the current president will have nobody left to command, and will go into exile like the coward he is. We will be the only legitimate authority left in Adabat, and the US and Canada will be violating our sovereignty by coming here. It will cause them endless amounts of political trouble."

Robotnik wasn't so sure international politics really worked like that, but he otherwise liked the rest of the plan, barring one small part, but he didn't say any of that out loud. "You know, that actually sounds like it could work," he voiced approvingly, also grinning now.

"Of course it does," Guerrez snapped back with an arrogance and assertiveness the mad scientist had never heard from him before. "Now get to it."

As Robotnik keyed in the flying and targeting routines for the aircraft, he asked himself if Guerrez was even aware that this plan would work only because it had his own blessing, unlike that stupidity with the embassies. Probably not. It made him wonder who the real leader here really was, then. Whoever would be in charge of this upcoming 'legitimate authority' hadn't been officially named yet, though Guerrez had no doubt already appointed himself. _There's still time to change that_, he thought with a smile after he finished. His expression remained so as he headed towards the liquid nitrogen canisters nearby whose contents were necessary to attach the upgrade components to the new X-1s. _Maybe later_.

* * *

><p>"You notice something, Sonic?" Tails asked his best friend while looking down the street with various luxury and sports cars parked on it, as well as various military vehicles and soldiers passing by them.<p>

"Yeah? Notice what?" The hedgehog was still able to answer with a smile despite the circumstances.

"This neighborhood seems pretty affluent. Mostly high-rise apartments, luxury hotels, expensive restaurants, luxury car showrooms, resorts, mansions, things like that," the fox pointed out.

"And? Your point is?" Knuckles asked, not understanding. Sonic didn't appear to either, judging by his raised eyebrow.

"The kind of people that live here…they're exactly who the ARA despise," Tails explained, sounding quite worried.

Sonic still looked confused. "Yeah, but I thought they already blew up the people they, uh, dislike this morning."

"Those are just the politicians, executives and other elites, people at the top," Tails responded, "Adabat's a democracy, or at least it's supposed to be one, and part of the ARA's rhetoric that we read off the internet in Alan's house is that the well-off citizens who vote them into power for their own benefit also deserve to die. They've launched attacks on them before.

"What I'm saying is, the military's plan to fight back assumes the ARA will be slowed down in here by fears of collateral damage, which can easily happen in urban warzones…but I have a feeling they won't actually care about it that much."

"That kinda makes sense in a scary way," Sonic agreed, "we gotta tell Rojas then! He's down at that block, last I saw," he added, pointing toward the high rise buildings nearby.

They began to move out, but then the fox suddenly stopped again, with his already big eyes bigger than usual, looking like he'd stumbled upon a dreadful revelation.

"Tails?" Knuckles called out in annoyance. "Come on, this is your idea!"

The fox shook his head before resuming. "Yeah, we have to talk to him right now," he said as he spun his namesakes behind him, now sounding very alarmed, "because I just thought of something really, really important."

"What is it?" Before Tails could answer Sonic, they had already arrived near the APC next to which Rojas's squad was being given instructions. "Hey, uh, sergeant! Excuse me!"

The sergeant cut his briefing short and turned to look at them, as did the troops who were present. "What do you want?" he asked, mildly annoyed, "we're in the middle of something important here."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rojas, sir, but I really have to ask something, it's urgent," Tails spoke hurriedly, "what's the status of the Air Force?"

"We only have a few F-16s left, but upper command has kept them grounded as we've already lost too many trying to shoot down the X-1s. They think it's futile, but if you ask me, they should at least send a few to take down the Reapers."

"So you guys have no idea what the X-1s or Reapers are doing or where they are now?"

Rojas was silent for a few seconds. "Last I heard, the troops still out there haven't seen either of them for fifteen minutes or so. No idea what they plan to do with them. They're still having trouble with the buggies though."

"Nothing on radar?"

A shake of the head. "No."

Tails looked up the night, cloudy sky, desperate to look for something up there. The answers he'd received had only intensified his worries rather than allayed them, and he really wished he had his goggles from the Tornado with him. He couldn't see anything, but he just _knew_ something was flying and watching over them now. "Sergeant Rojas, I have reason to believe the ARA will bombard us any second now. We have to get to safety!" he found himself blurting out loud.

The man just looked at him incredulously. "What?"

"Sir, you know the ARA. They wouldn't hesitate to blow this place and its population up, not after they did the same to the city center, and it's entirely possible those aircraft are surveying us right now! They could use the chance to knock us all out at once! We have to get outta here!"

Before Rojas could respond, they were interrupted by the high-pitched sounds of several projectiles zooming past in the sky. The next thing they knew, explosions were going off close to them – dangerously close.

This was the second time Tails had been proven right in something he _didn't_ want to be since coming to Earth. He couldn't moan about that now, though. "Run!" he heard Sonic shout, "let's move!"

Despite being able to move much faster than the now shocked humans, the trio was not able to get far before more bombs and missiles struck the streets and buildings, causing more explosions that surrounded them. They could be hit anywhere, anytime.

Knuckles, oddly enough, was the one who stayed the calmest in the midst of this. Realizing that the only safe direction to get to, at least for now, was down, he quickly scanned their rapidly bombarded environment, and found a way out. "That sewer entrance!" he said loudly as he pointed to the manhole on the street, "let's get down there!"

Leaping over to it, he grabbed the heavy steel lid, tore it out, and tossed it away in a swift motion that would have shamed any Olympian weightlifter. "Guys!" Sonic shouted at Rojas and his troops as the echidna already began dropping inside, "right here!"

Behind them, a missile detonated very close to their APC, which meant not one but two explosions right next to the fleeing squad. Sonic and Tails watched in horror as some of the men completely disappeared in the fireball. Others were knocked off their feet, including Sergeant Rojas, who was flung over towards the manhole by the force. He landed hard on his chest on the tarmac several meters in front of the duo with a loud grunt.

Purely out of reflex and panic, they quickly reached their gloved hands out to Rojas' own and pulled him into the manhole before jumping down themselves. Right as all of them landed on the damp sewer floor, a massive explosion went off right over the street where they were just five seconds ago, causing the sewer ceiling to shake hard. Knowing what that meant, all three of them dragged the shocked sergeant away from the ladder, just far away enough to avoid several tons of collapsing concrete and tarmac, which blocked off the already ruined entrance completely.

They silently stayed there in the dark sewer tunnel without moving for a full minute, listening to the booms that continued to go off on the surface above them. The ceiling shook a few more times, but fortunately not severely enough to cause more cave-ins. Meanwhile, Rojas regained his senses and slowly stood back up again, shaking his head roughly to clear it up.

Finally, there was complete silence and stillness. The planes had apparently finished their second attack on the city. Sonic decided to speak first. "You okay?" he asked the panting sergeant softly, who was checking his carbine to confirm that it wasn't damaged.

"_Si_," the man replied with a small nod and an unenthusiastic voice. "I'm fine. Thank you…again. Just…wish my men could say that too."

Sonic and Tails looked back at the tunnel route that was there earlier, their expressions looking rather hurt. "We're really sorry," the hedgehog said with a sigh, "about your men. Sorry we couldn't save them too."

"You don't have to be," Rojas replied blankly. After a short but noticeable pause, he added in a very firm tone, "But I know _who_ should."

* * *

><p>Doherty watched Mayes with crossed arms through the large glass window as Mayes tearfully reunited with his wife and children in an embrace, now finally able to confess everything to them. Of course, the CEO couldn't just go home yet – perhaps for quite some time, even. He would still have to give another debriefing, and the fact remained that he had supplied weapons to terrorists, even if he hadn't been willing to do so. Alan did sympathize with his situation, but there was no way he could let him go like that.<p>

"Alan?" Warner walked up to his side hurriedly, looking and sounding worried for umpteenth time in two days.

"Yeah?" Doherty could already sense he had something important, urgent even, to tell.

"Wish I could just talk to you about how we could declare the case closed or go have a drink or something, but this news just came in," he said quickly, pausing to take a deep breath, and then dropping, ironically enough, his own bombshell, "Adabat City just got hit by a second airstrike. The upper-class district of Ocampo, to be exact."

The only reaction Alan had was a stare and a couple of blinks.

"The thing is," he continued more silently, "various Army units and your mobian pals were in that area when it happened."

This caused Alan to curse under his breath and immediately bring up his cell phone, pressing the speed dial for Tails. He continued to wait for an answer even after over a dozen dialing beeps, but it never came. "Anyone else having this same problem?" he asked frantically.

"Yeah, none of us can get anyone there either," Ryan confirmed, "the attack must have knocked out more communications in the whole country. We only managed to learn about this through a satellite scan showing tons of smoke coming of an area that hadn't been smoking earlier."

"Damn it," Alan said as he pressed the speed dial again. To say he was concerned now was an understatement – if anything had happened to those three, the implications would be catastrophic, both for international security and his conscience. He simply couldn't imagine it. "My God, they better be alright," he added while shaking his head hard, "if not-"

"I'd bet they're capable of escaping or surviving something like this," Warner cut in, "I mean, you yourself have said before that they practically evade explosions for a living. Me, I'm way more worried about how it'll affect their military."

"Well, they better live," Doherty replied bitterly as he gave up and put the cell phone away, "because whether they like it or not, they'll have to make up for pretty much all of the Army's losses by themselves, even after the fleet gets there. A navy can't replace an army. They can."

"Hell of a responsibility they have now, huh?"

Alan seemed ready to answer, but stopped, and nothing came out of his mouth until ten seconds later. "I wanted to say that they're used to this, but…yeah, pretty much."

"By the way," Warner asked quietly while pointing at Mayes in the other room, "you think we should let him know about this?"

After several more seconds, Doherty shook his head. "No. Not now, anyway."

* * *

><p>They had spent the last fifteen minutes navigating the dark, dank sewer tunnels, with nobody in particular leading the way and the only illumination coming from the flashlight on Tails' wrist device. Finding a way out of here wasn't supposed to take this long – they had encountered a number of ladders leading up to the surface, but all of them had been blocked off by the huge amount of debris above. Knuckles could have easily dug through it, but that required his special shovel claws which he didn't bring, as doing so with his bare spikes and fists would take too long to be worth it.<p>

Had the mood been less somber, Sonic would have teased the echidna about it. Instead, he found himself more interested in talking to Sergeant Rojas so that things wouldn't be so quiet. "Your men must have meant a lot to you, huh?" he asked, hoping the sergeant wouldn't mind the topic.

Fortunately, he didn't. "I personally trained them and changed them from a bunch of ragtag undisciplined kids into a professional fighting force," he said quietly, "they're the squad that had stayed alive the longest with me so far."

Sonic raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"They're not the first group that I've lost. Special Forces in this country sent to fight the ARA…don't usually get to live long," he admitted with a sigh, "the mission of ours you participated in yesterday was already one of the mildest. In the last eight we've been before that, five of which I've been in, at least one member died in each. We normally just console ourselves by saying that for every man we lose, the ARA lose fifteen." He looked drearily at the blocked off ladder behind them. "I guess they've managed to even the score now."

"You know, I was only panicking when I was talking about what they could do earlier," Tails chimed in as he turned around to face them. The look in his eyes was still of utter disbelief. "I never imagined they'd seriously resort to this."

"None of us did," Rojas said, shaking his head again, "even though we should have. The ARA had only been getting more aggressive against the upper class in the last few years."

They continued moving again, but Sonic wanted to talk more at the same time. "Just…what _is_ their problem, anyway?" he asked loudly in a much less calm tone, his voice echoing throughout the tunnels. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but feel angry, perhaps angrier than even Rojas. "I mean…why? What makes them hate these people so much?"

They turned round a corner before Rojas stopped moving and sighed. "Look…I won't pretend that Adabat doesn't…didn't have problems," he began, "if I were in charge I'd damn well have made sure we had a much fairer economic and political policy as well as a stronger stance against corruption. In a way, the ARA's existence is our fault," he added regretfully.

Sonic stayed silent, but Rojas' comments made him wonder about the ARA's origins and intentions. Were they really that different from that of Robotnik's? Everything they'd ever said and done…it all had the trademarks of hatred and revenge against a world that had kept them down and oppressed. That was something the hedgehog was all too familiar with.

Then the sergeant's tone and expression turned dark. "But it's too late for that," he continued, voice filled with a barely contained rage, "all I know now is that they have slaughtered thousands of people, including my own men, my own friends, and that they'll keep doing so until only those in their own hive mind remain. I'd like change too, but most definitely not the kind they'll bring about. They _have_ to be stopped," he added sharply, his fist now raised in front of him and clenched hard.

"Otherwise Robotnik will use them and turn this place and Angel Island into his own personal dictatorship, rule over everyone like they were toys, or even use the Emeralds to take over other countries," Knuckles observed with a frown. "If you guys are in," he continued to say while facing Sonic and Tails, "so am I."

The hedgehog and fox looked at each other for a brief moment, before facing the echidna, trying their best to smile. "Appreciate it, Knux," Sonic said, "I know you're not doing it purely out of selflessness, but hey, the actions and results are all that matter, right?"

"Come on, Sonic," Knuckles replied with a slight scoff, "even I'm not that apathetic towards what's happening to the world. Otherwise I wouldn't have let Tails install all that stuff on Angel Island for me. Or help save those people in the airport last time, or help Tails in the embassy just now. I care, okay?"

"Hmm...good point, there I guess. And Sergeant," Sonic next said to Rojas, "I get what you mean. Whatever happened to these people in the past, it's no excuse what they're causing to others now. We're gonna take 'em on!"

"Thanks yet again," Rojas answered silently, "to be honest, I really don't know how they can be defeated otherwise. We've lost so many people already. That you're filling in our shortages for us…I commend you for taking on such a job."

"Guys, looks like we can get out form here!" Tails called out, looking up the ladder in front of the group, "it looks clear. No way _all_ the manholes in this place have been blocked off, right?"

Knuckles went up to the ladder and glanced at the closed steed lid above. "Alright, give me a second," he said before climbing up to it. Holding onto the ladder with one oversized hand, he used the other to attempt to move it, hoping there wasn't anything weighing down on it.

Fortunately, this didn't turn out to be the case as he found that he could move it effortlessly to the side. The instant he did so, his nose was assaulted by the smell of rather thick smoke, which almost startled him. Far above, the night sky appeared much blurrier than it should be. After hesitating for a moment, Knuckles finally decided to pop his head out just a bit to scan his surroundings.

It wasn't pretty, to say the least. The manhole was located right in the center of a crossroads. Around it, whole blocks were on fire or had been demolished entirely – there was not a single building that hadn't been damaged. In the distance, there was even one, likely a condo, leaning against another. The streets were littered with debris, garbage, craters, cracks, damaged cars and a few corpses. This probably used to be some upper class nightlife area, but it was very hard to see that now. Somewhat surprisingly, there was still light coming from some of the windows, shop signs and streetlamps – the ones that remained standing, of course.

"What do you see?" Rojas asked from below, making sure he kept his voice down. "Anyone there?"

The echidna looked around a little longer, and confirmed that there were no signs of life. He was about to say so to the sergeant when he heard a noise coming from one of the streets. Human noises. Lowering his head, he looked downwards to give a 'shh' gesture, and then slowly rose out from the street surface again to see what was happening.

Through the smoke, Knuckles was able to see a group of several people, apparently dressed in ruined suits and fancy clothes, being forcibly dragged out of a barely intact building by men who had much shabbier clothing, but who also had rifles. As the victims were begging and whimpering for help, the men with guns shouted at them and brutally hit them in the face with the stocks on their weapons.

Of course, the echidna didn't know the language they were speaking in, but he didn't have to in order to understand the scene. "Something's happening," he said hurriedly as he climbed out of the hole, "come on quick. I don't think they can see us from there."

Immediately after coming out, Knuckles ducked behind a white sedan, peering out over the trunk to continue watching the commotion. Nearby, Sonic came out first, followed by Tails and finally Rojas, all of whom the echidna impatiently gestured to come over next to him. They stuck their heads out from behind different parts of the car, only to be met with a most unexpected and unpleasant image.

The ARA guerillas angrily kicked the men, women and young children that were now lying on the ground before them one more time before finally aiming their AKs and ARs at their heads and firing on full auto. Perhaps the most shocking part, however, was a few of the guerillas weren't men at all, but were boys that didn't seem older than thirteen. Not that one could tell from their faces, which had exactly the same expressions as that of the adults: pure anger and hatred towards their enemies, and the satisfaction of finally getting revenge against them, even the kids who weren't much older than themselves.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Rojas all stood still, stunned at everything they were witnessing. They were completely frozen into not knowing what to do, except for the sergeant, who suddenly felt _something_ rise within him.

He had no idea what it was or how to describe it. But what he'd just seen, coming right after the complete massacre of his men, the massacre of thousands of civilians, and the deaths of even more of his men in the last few years, all at the hands of these people…it was time for this volcano to finally erupt.

Operating purely on raw human emotion now, Sergeant Pedro Rojas immediately stood up, picked up his carbine, charged it, aimed it at the bastards, all in one swift, trained motion, and, with a deep breath, pressed down hard on the trigger. _"¡Coman mierda y muéranse, cabrones!_"

Nobody had time to react as the bullets came in flying. In an instant, no less than three guerillas, one of which was a thirteen-year-old, were hit in the head. The others, having used up all of their ammo to execute these so-called elites, quickly ducked and took cover behind nearby cars to reload.

As Rojas continued to fire and shout more profanities, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles quickly realized what making all this noise was going to cause. Aware of what the sergeant was going through and that trying to shake him out of it could make him react violently against them, they decided to handle it a different way and quickly began moving out.

Just five seconds after he started firing, Rojas stopped, got down, frantically reloaded, and then got up to continue firing at the guerillas in blind rage, not even noticing that the mobian trio wasn't next to him anymore or how suicidal his current actions were. Even if he did, he wouldn't have cared in this state. All he cared about was destroying these assholes _right now_.

There was a small part of him that was still sane enough to remember his training, however, so he did not get back up immediately after emptying his second mag and getting down again. He slumped against the car's tire as he reloaded, while expecting heavy volumes of returned fire – he wanted them to waste their own ammo before he started shooting again.

But it didn't happen. The enemies remained strangely inactive, staying behind cover without firing back at him at all. When he stood back up to glance at where the hostiles were hiding, he saw the reason for it. A blue, golden and red blur were streaking about on the street, hitting and disarming the guerillas one by one who grunted or cried out in pain as they were struck. Just like yesterday, in front of the cave. Then he realized that meant that there was something else he could do, or should, once they were done, and got out from his cover.

A few seconds later, all of the guerillas behind the cars were taken down, and the trio slowed down and regrouped in the middle of the street, looking no worse for wear. When they looked ahead, they saw Sergeant Rojas running up to them, newly reloaded carbine in hand. Then he stopped in front of them, looking into their still surprised eyes, and they into his oddly blank ones.

For a moment the three simply stood there like that, having no idea how to talk to him again after the events that felt like minutes ago, but in fact was only a few seconds. Rojas, however, did. "So…you've taken down all of them?" he simply asked, his voice sounding rather flat, with none of the emotions earlier.

"Uh…" Sonic began to respond, seeming confused. He had obviously expected the sergeant to say something else. "Yeah, I guess."

That was all he needed to hear. "Then you know what happens now," he answered, his anger coming back once more as he aimed his carbine at the unconscious guerillas and started shooting wildly again, hitting two of them, which he neither noticed nor cared were also preteens.

"No!" As Rojas was about to fire at a third target, he was immediately tackled and knocked onto the ground by Sonic, who had responded completely out of shock and reflex. "They just killed kids themselves, damn it!" he found himself shouting as he sat up on the sergeant's abdomen, "you don't have to do the same too!"

Silence fell across the street as everyone stood still and silent again. This was when Sonic realized that his vision was blurry, and not because of the smoke, either. After exactly one second of confusion, understanding and contemplation all at once, he decided not to fight against it and just let the tears flow. This whole thing had become far worse and out of control than he had been willing to admit, and it made him feel incredibly ashamed.

He got off the man's body, allowing him to slowly get back up, although he himself did not. Sonic the Hedgehog, renowned hero of not one but two worlds and who hardly displayed any emotion other than joy or friendliness, sat there sobbing and shuddering in a way he had not since the death of his foster parents.

As he continued doing so, Sonic felt a hand gently place itself his shoulder. He turned to see Tails right there with him, eyes also looking very wet. If his own big brother and hero couldn't handle this, the two-tailed fox thought, how could he himself?

"I'm…I'm sorry," Rojas finally spoke, wearily looking at the corpses before him in regret and sorrow. "I was supposed to be able to control myself…but I couldn't. I felt like I had to let everything in me out."

"Everything, huh?" Knuckles cut in harshly, arms crossed again, "including your own blood and guts, I assume? Maybe ours too?"

Before anyone could respond, several projectiles came both from in front and behind at very high speeds. "Gunshots!" Tails cried out, "get down!"

As the bullets whizzed past, everyone quickly scrambled to take cover, except for Sonic, which Tails actually had to drag behind a car. The hedgehog was supposed to be the first to avoid them. This he realized as he snapped out of his emotional outpouring, which caused him to chuck it aside and shake his head. He could cry later. But for now, they had a different matter on their hands as they heard the angry cries of many approaching ARA guerillas that had spotted the three high value targets who were supposedly dead already, and whom, like the scum who lived here, they had been ordered by their boss to kill if that weren't the case.


	10. Chapter 9: Turning Things Around

**Chapter 9: Turning Things Around**

"My men are saying that those alien rascals are still alive!" Guerrez roared into the radio to Robotnik.

"Oh, really?" the fat scientist on the other end of the line replied, sounding disappointed but not surprised. As if taking out that hedgehog and his two pals were going to be that easy…though when he thought about it, he realized that it would actually be even more disappointing. "Well, no matter. Just finished rearming, two ready for take-off," he reported calmly.

"Then send them out there _now_!" Guerrez shouted even louder, "one for the aliens, the other for the rest of the military that remains in and near the city. I don't trust those _tontos_ to be able to handle it themselves. Until they're all gone, we cannot complete the revolution!"

"Fine, fine, they're headed there now," Robotnik replied, barely able to hide his annoyance. As he began operating the aircraft controls, he realized it was not just at how Guerrez was ordering him around while sounding more and more high-strung in the process, but also something else which he'd just been reminded of after hearing that man bring up the word 'revolution' again. It was an observation that he'd slowly noticed about the ARA over time, and one he'd decided to keep quiet about until the most suitable moment. Until then, though… "I'd appreciate it, _Jefe_, if you could give me the coordinates where they've been spotted," he said over the radio dryly, "because as much as I'd like to just mop the area with bombs again, we don't have so much of them left."

* * *

><p>"There're at least twenty of them on each side," Rojas reported calmly but hurriedly as bullets continued missing them by bare inches, "we need to move now or they'll flank us!"<p>

Sonic's newly dried eyes quickly darted around in all directions, looking for a way out, and within two seconds settled on the store out of the entire row of stores that suffered the least damage here, a bar a few stores down the sidewalk on the same side of the street as the hedgehog. "That bar, the Copa!" he said loudly, pointing a finger at it while saying the name on its burnt out neon light sign, "let's get in there first!"

Rojas, who was on the other side of the road with Knuckles, snuck a peak at the store. "Pretty far. I need you to get them off my back before I can get there!" he shouted back.

This was when the echidna got up. "Leave it to me. Rojas, get down on the ground! Just do it!"

The sergeant's sense of urgency caused him to do something he would normally never consider: obeying a command from a civilian. As he followed Knuckles' advice and flattened himself against the tarmac, however, he saw how it paid off.

In an instant, the echidna grabbed the bumper of the SUV to Rojas' right and forcibly flipped it into the air as if it were a toy rather than a real car. As the vehicle spun about ninety degrees, Knuckles gave it a solid punch on its underside, causing it to fly and tumble towards the incoming ARA guerrillas, whose cries changed from crazed anger to that of shock. Only a few of them managed to avoid it in time.

Immediately after that, he turned around and simply repeated the feat with the other car next to the sergeant, sending it down the other direction of the road with very similar results. "Alright," he shouted as he began running, "move!"

Not really wanting to look at and check the possibly gruesome consequences of Knuckles' work, even if it did manage to stop the gunfire for now, Sonic and Tails got up and dashed straight into the bar, with Knuckles right behind them. Rojas took a moment to sprint across the street, checking his left and right at the same time, though obviously not because of traffic this time, before rushing through the wooden door with them, barely avoiding several shots fired from the lucky ones that weren't hit.

"Nice work, Knux," Sonic commented as Rojas came in, "wish we didn't have to make it so bloody for them though," he added, sounding almost sorrowful.

"Well, forgive me for caring more for our wellbeing than theirs, Sonic," Knuckles snapped in response.

"Guys, don't argue now!" Tails cut in with a desperate tone, "we're not safe yet, there're still a lot of them out there. Where do we go from here?"

"Northeast," Rojas replied, bolting the door shut, "the city border. There may still be units there who are alive and active. I'll try to radio them about us in advance."

"Alright, we'll go through the back door," Sonic said as he vaulted over the bar counter to the door behind it.

Something Rojas said suddenly reminded Tails of something. "Hey, I really should contact Alan," the fox said as he followed the group out to the back of the bar, hitting the speed dial on the WRID at the same time. Just as he started to call Doherty, the main bar room that they'd just left was suddenly rocked by an explosion, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"What was that?" Sonic asked as he opened the metal door that led to the back alley.

"Grenades or RPGs, likely," Rojas replied. Holding his weapon up in a ready and alert stance, he leaned out of the doorway checking both directions. "Clear, but not for long. Northeast is…" He checked the compass on one of his front pouches. "…to the right. Go!"

The group promptly poured out into the alley and closed the door before Knuckles raised a hand. "Hey, just a second," he said, before taking a large dumpster nearby, flipping it ninety degrees and placing it against the door, blocking it off entirely. "Okay, that's it."

"Great idea, Red," Sonic commented before turning to the fox, "Hey, Tails, how's it going?"

"I can't get through to Alan," Tails reported, sounding concerned, "this second bombing run must have knocked down some cell phone towers. We'll need another way to call him, maybe when we meet up with the rest of the military."

They suddenly heard a loud, familiar sound coming from above. When they looked up, they saw an advanced jet screech over the area, crossing the alley from left to right at an unusually low altitude, which caused them to come to a stop. "It's an X-1," Tails said, able to recognize it immediately despite not having seen it in flight before. "They're still trying to find us."

Rojas was speaking rapidly into his radio, which earned him an unclear but still intelligible response. "Just as I thought," he said to the others, "there're still people about two kilometers northeast from here. But if that plane's not taken down, they won't be there much longer," he continued apprehensively.

"Neither will we!" Sonic added, "I mean, we could get there ourselves easily, but we're not leaving you behind!"

"I appreciate it, Sonic," Rojas said as gratefully as he could, "but you really don't need me to weigh you down."

"No, it's alright. Seriously, we'll get you out of here," Sonic insisted. To his side, Knuckles was rolling his eyes, barely suppressing a sigh at the hedgehog's Good Samaritan tendencies.

"Couldn't any of you at least carry me?" the sergeant then suggested without even realizing how ridiculous it sounded, even though it did make sense.

"We'd be too slowed down," Knuckles simply and indifferently answered, "it won't really make a difference anyway."

"I got an idea!" Tails spoke up while looking at his WRID, "the mountain range is nearby to the north-northeast. If I start moving now and get there, I can use the Tornado to take out or at least distract the X-1s for you."

"Yeah, that could work!" Sonic replied, snapping his fingers, "so you're going there now?"

"Yeah!" The fox had already started spinning his tails. "Best for us to split up anyway. Until I can get those planes outta here, don't let anyone see you, otherwise they might signal the plane on where to attack. I'll keep in contact with you with the earpiece, okay?"

"What are we supposed to do before you get there?" Knuckles asked.

"Either hide or try to move without being spotted, if you can."

"Right!" the hedgehog responded as Tails began hovering further away into the air, "be careful!"

"You too! Good luck!" Tails barely managed to say back before flying over the block and disappearing from view. "Uh, oh, guys," he suddenly said, his voice now coming over Sonic's earpiece, "the plane's going to scan the alley, hide behind something!"

The warning made them look upwards, and true enough, in the distance, the X-1 was coming back around, still quite close to the surface, but this time it was following the route of the alley very closely rather than cutting through it perpendicularly, in the opposite direction of where the remainder of the group was headed. "Get down!" Sonic said loudly.

They instinctively crouched next to two dumpsters large enough to hide them, with Sonic behind one and Rojas and Knuckles behind the other, just as the jet passed over them with a deafening shriek, causing them to cover their ears. Fortunately, it did not unload its weapons or show any sign of noticing them, as far as they could tell anyway.

"Sonic, you guys okay?" Tails asked, "luckily I managed to get behind this stairwell in time."

"Uh, yeah," Sonic replied, amazed and thankful that their respective earpieces didn't amplify the noise – their ears could only take so much. "Let's keep moving."

"Right, before that thing comes back again," Tails replied before he started flying again across another street. Below him, however, was a sight that made him gulp. There were several men running together, apparently heading into the alley the group was in and looking like they were carrying rifles. "Guys, lots of ARA headed your way from the left!" he reported worriedly, "better check your right too!"

Sonic, Knuckles and Rojas could already hear the guerrillas frantically speaking to each other as they closed in. Any further to the front or back and they would spot them. There was only one other direction left. "In here," the sergeant said as he opened the door closest to them, "come on!"

All three of them managed to slip in and close the door just as the guerrillas entered the alley and turned to look with their rifles up where they had been just a second ago. "Search all the buildings!" their apparent squad leader shouted, "they must be in one of them!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Co<em>_ño_, my men said they lost them!" Guerrez said into the radio, now sounding more frustrated.

"A bunch of superpowered aliens known for outrunning ordinary humans losing their human pursuers. Yeah, that's so surprising," Robotnik couldn't help but say. "Anyway, one of the Reapers is already on its way there," he reported in a tone just slightly more normal, "it's slow and small enough to scan the area better for us."

"Why can't you just make the X-1 hover like helicopters?" Guerrez asked, sounding as if he had the better idea.

That irritated feeling returned to him again. "Because, hello, are you forgetting who we're dealing with here?" Robotnik said back equally pompously, "if I make those things stand still in the air, that hedgehog, or any of them really, are just going to jump up to and tear through them like they were made of paper," he continued, remembering Sonic and Tails' performance against his hoverbots back on Mobius, shortly before he'd met Alan Doherty, "where areas if that happened to the Reapers, it would be much less of a loss."

"Fine," Guerrez conceded, "there's also something else you need to know," he added as he lowered his volume, "they reported seeing them with a human, apparently someone from the military. If they are escorting him, that means they can't just run away from the area like that. They can't have gotten far."

"Well, isn't that just interesting!" the mad scientist replied, sounding curious and pleased at this bit of info. "So willing to slow down just to protect a complete stranger! Oh, Sonic," he added in a mockingly sympathetic tone as he shook his head, "you just don't change, do you?"

* * *

><p>As they headed up the stairwell and entered a door on the third floor, they realized they were in what was likely an office building, as the large room was full of cubicles and desks. Naturally, none of its lights were on, and the area as a whole looked rather trashed, with many pieces of paper and stationery, as well as overturned office chairs messily scattered across the carpet. "Looks like everyone got outta here in a hurry," Sonic remarked.<p>

"Wonder if it was before or after the second bombardment," Knuckles said, "this building doesn't look so damaged. Could have been safer for those workers to actually stay here. Ironic."

"Yeah," the hedgehog agreed, "just hope they made it."

Rojas had turned on the tactical flashlight on his weapon and was aiming it around. "Let's go over to the window," he said, "see what's out there on the street."

"Sure," Sonic answered, before jumping over to the large glass windows, with Knuckles following him, and looked over the street outside, which turned out to actually be a four-lane highway. Unsurprisingly, it was full of abandoned cars. The only ones that were still moving, Sonic noticed, were the several ARA jeeps that were being driven into the city. One of them, however, turned left and headed into the small parking area between the building's front side and the highway, and its occupants stepped out to keep watch on the entrance. It was harder to see, but the other vehicles also stopped in front of the buildings the trio had passed earlier.

Behind them, the sergeant was speaking with his comrades over the radio again. "The surviving units are down this highway to the right," he said after he was done, "they're in trouble though, surrounded by ARA and getting hammered by the other X-1. We need to get there fast." As if on cue, they suddenly heard and felt rather distant booms - explosions that were occurring far away from them. Sonic looked out the window and saw a jet, likely the second X-1, circling around a group of buildings down the highway on the other side.

With a worried nod, Sonic put a hand to his ear. "Hey, Tails," he called out, "we're in some office building on the third floor. How're you doing?"

"I'm almost there," the fox replied as he landed on another rooftop, sounding nervous. The mountain range on which he landed the Tornado was in plain view. "I'm fine," he continued as he headed in its direction with his still spinning namesakes, "just a bit on edge, needing to get to the Tornado and avoid the X-1 from spotting me…alone."

There was that tone again. "I'd like to be there with you too, buddy, but I can't…sorry, just hang in there, OK?" Sonic tried to assure, "the Tornado with you in it would beat the crap out of those flying tin cans any day…I just know it."

Tails was still worried, but Sonic's voice calmed him better than the hedgehog himself realized, mostly because of how many times he'd done it before. "Hopefully," he replied, sounding exactly that, even if he wasn't so sure the capabilities of those planes could simply be dismissed like that, "I won't let you or anyone else down, Sonic."

"I know you won't, pal," he said, almost smiling in the process.

He was distracted, however, by the sight and barely muffled sound of the X-1 appearing at the upper edge of the window, still swooping over the city, ready to rain hell on Sonic and the others the instant their location was revealed. Even worse, however, were more booms going off far in the distance down the highway where the other X-1 was already raining hell on Rojas' colleagues.

"I saw that," Tails spoke up, the panic evident in his voice once more, "I'm almost there, almost, almost…"

Before Sonic could reply, however, there was a loud crash behind them as the door they used to enter this room was kicked open hard. Their initial shock immediately led to their reflexes taking over as they automatically dived to the ground. _Now _that_ was fast of them!_ "Tails, uh, got company," Sonic whispered quickly, "don't talk to me until I say you can, okay?"

"Uh, okay," the fox answered, also in a whisper, already understanding what was happening.

They slowly crawled on the carpet, heading underneath the nearest desks, while Rojas had already turned off his light as new ones were turned on, mounted to the AK-47s of the guerrillas that had practically marched into the office and were waving the beams around.

For Sonic and Knuckles, the scenario was unfamiliar, possibly a bit embarrassing as well. Entire groups of these people wouldn't stand a chance against them, and although they didn't get to count the guerrillas before dropping below the desks and behind the cubicles, there couldn't more than four of them here. There was nothing challenging at all in taking them on right now.

But he remembered Tails' advice. The guerrillas were reporting something into their radios, likely saying they hadn't found anything…yet. If they got cut off now, Guerrez or Robotnik on the other end would instantly realize who did it, and immediately have the X-1 drop a guided bomb right on them, the same kind that had already destroyed over a dozen buildings in the city. Outrunning it wouldn't be a problem normally, but with their need to escort Rojas, a well-trained and yet ultimately still ordinary human, it suddenly was one. Neither of them knew if those two were willing to bomb their own men in the process just to get at them, but given everything that had happened so far, it was safer to assume they were.

Sonic turned his head a little to the left to see Knuckles fuming quietly, purple eyes glaring right at him. Were he in one of his more usual moods, the hedgehog would have simply shrugged and smiled sheepishly. But then he heard another boom going off far away, and the boots of the guerrillas crushing the carpet beneath them, coming closer.

Fortunately, this was quickly followed up by a familiar and much more welcome sound Sonic could hear over the earpiece. _Just a little while longer_…

* * *

><p>On the mountain range, the Tornado rose vertically with what sounded like a gentle, continuous hum from a distance or inside the cockpit, but was clearly a roar up close. The plane had been parked facing the city, which was practical, not to mention somewhat appropriate too, at least for Tails.<p>

As the fox moved the plane into standard jet mode, he tried not to look below the horizon. The sight of the devastated city was bad enough during the day and even worse during the night, as most of the colorful lights that had been present just 24 hours earlier were now gone. The only things that took their place now were a bunch of fires, and the two jets that did it were still flying around right there as if admiring their handiwork, ready to cause even more of destruction. And kill his best friends.

_Well_, Tails thought, looking more determined ever while pushing the thrust lever all the way forwards, _let's light 'em up before they light Sonic up!_

* * *

><p>The tense silence in the office was interrupted by Rojas' radio, which suddenly let out a loud burst of noise, with panicking voices on the other end desperately asking in Spanish for help. The sergeant, as well as Sonic and Knuckles, looked at the device wide-eyed with great horror, mixed in partially with disgust. <em>I turned off this damn thing already!<em>

Knowing what this meant, the two mobians began to take action, no matter how reluctant they were to just a few seconds ago, before the guerrillas themselves could.

Just as all four alerted ARA members got right up to the desk, ready to shine their lights at its underside, it suddenly rose into the air and was tossed straight into their faces, courtesy of Knuckles. Sonic jumped and headbutted the nearest man in the chin, while Rojas also stood up and delivered a straight punch to another's nose, right after it had already been hit by the table's wooden surface.

They began running towards the big window, leaving everyone else dispatched on the floor, while Rojas angrily slapped the radio on his shoulder to stop the noise. _"¡Maldita basura!_" he growled, having just _known_ that his military's outdated equipment could cost them one day, "I shut this damn thing off just now!"

"Tails, we got exposed, I think the plane's coming for us," Sonic hurriedly said, ignoring the sergeant's continued cursing, "could use your help sooner rather than later!"

"A few seconds, I swear!" the fox replied, sounding panicky as well, having been surprised by Sonic bluntly informing him of this sudden and dangerous turn of events.

"We gotta jump," Knuckles said as he grabbed Rojas' hand, "I'll stop your fall, come on!"

Before Rojas could even protest or be confused, all three already smashed through the window and fell toward the parking lot and the unsuspecting guerrillas below, ready to run as hard as they could the instant they hit the ground to escape the explosion that was definitely to come.

* * *

><p>"Inside the <em>Seguro Imperio<em> building! Drop the bombs _now!_"

Robotnik would have enthusiastically complied if not for one small detail. "Wait, your men are ins-"

"_Fuck them!_" Guerrez shouted with a red face, "just _do it!_"

Before Robotnik were the control consoles for all of his X-1s as well as the Reaper, placed next to each other like arcade machines. One of the former he had already modified to have a split screen for four planes like a console video game, while the other one was separate, specifically to control the fifth and last X-1, since it was impossible and impractical to have the split screen show the cameras for five aircraft.

One of the planes which had been bombarding the remaining military units near the city was on its way back here after having depleted its air-to-ground munitions. The other one, joined by the Reaper, was circling the area that the ARA men had been searching. The insurance company building, being taller than the others in the area, was plainly visible on the screens of both aircraft, and in the push of a button – or two of them, rather – it could be reduced to rubble within less than five seconds. With Sonic, Tails and Knuckles inside or very nearby.

He could end his years-long struggle against those mobians right about now. Two of them, at least.

But as Guerrez's order to bomb Sonic at the cost of his own men came, he unexpectedly found himself saying a single word to himself: _Stop_. And then a second: _Think!_

Suddenly, time slowed all the way down for the rotund mad scientist as he started contemplating the situation at a speed a lesser mind certainly could not reach. In an instant, he was reminded of the bigger picture. And as he did so, he realized it was, in fact, better to not fire upon them immediately.

Yes, he would be rid of those three. But eliminating them had never been the priority - taking control was. If he dropped the bombs in the way Guerrez ordered, he would also be killing the dozen or so guerrillas inside and surrounding the building. As the man at the controls, he would be held responsible. The ARA had already made it clear how they did not take kindly to leadership that got more of their own needlessly killed after what happened to Alfonso Guerrez. And Robotnik was smarter than to think Alejandro would defend him after the revolution was done, advanced warplanes and buggies be damned. Indeed, for those reasons, he thought the order was very likely intentional on Guerrez's part.

This wasn't Mobius anymore. If it were, he would have launched his weapon without a second thought and used his other resources to take over whatever lands before him and keep going from there. But it was different now. He still had his X-1s and autobuggies, of course, but that was a far cry from the days where he still had multiple hidden bases, factories, slave labor and others.

And to get back even close to that level, no matter how slowly, he needed to actually be the leader first. And that required men that trusted him more than they did Guerrez. Bombing them did not help to do so.

No, best to wait for a few seconds until they became visible. Both the front and right side of the building were surrounded by wide, exposed highways, one crossing over the other as a bridge. Even if they didn't head out there, the Reaper was keeping its electronic eye focused on the alley behind, just in case. Get a visual on them, confirm they were not near other guerrillas, and _then_ fire on them. Just a few seconds, yet it would make all the difference in the world.

At this point, one of the building's front windows suddenly shattered. Three figures, one of which appeared human but the other two most definitely not even from this distance, crashed through the broken glass out of what appeared to be the third floor. Upon seeing this, Robotnik's finger twitched and hovered readily over the button. Finally.

Still not clear yet. One of the mobians, likely Knuckles, seemed to be carrying the man on his back so that he would survive the descent. Clever. As expected, the fall and landing didn't faze them one bit, other than perhaps that human, who was no longer on Knuckles' back. Before the four guerrillas could start shooting, the echidna quickly darted behind the ARA jeep next to them and flipped it over, and the men were instantly knocked down or even crushed.

Robotnik smiled at this. Without even realizing it, Knuckles, who was clearly not held back by pacifist tendencies unlike Sonic or Tails, had helped to solve his problem. If those men were already dead or dying, he could press the button and fire right now without fear of causing collateral damage. It was funny, really. He never thought he would ever find a reason to actually keep another human being who worked alongside him alive. To protect them, even.

But before he could press the button, another quick observation caused him to stop. Something was wrong. Looking even more closely, he noticed that Tails was not among the group with Sonic or Knuckles. Where was that fox?

Without warning, the Reaper's screen went offline, and was instantly replaced with static. His experiences and reflexes kicking in, Robotnik's hand quickly went from the button to the joystick, grabbing it and steering the X-1 away from what he could already guess was an air-to-air attack. Once again, his chance to blow Sonic away had slipped past him at the worst possible moment.

He gritted his teeth as he continued to override the X-1's autopilot, turning the plane in a tight circle without changing altitude. The skies were supposed to be clear, damn it! There had been no confirmation that any enemy aircraft were in the area. If it had been an AAF F-16, there would have been a warning tone, and those planes hadn't been seen flying for over-

Something appeared in the X-1's screen by coming in from the right, something flying. Something fast. He looked closer at it, and upon realizing what it was, he felt like facepalming, ad would have done so if his hands weren't occupied. So that's where Tails was! He couldn't believe he had forgotten about the Tornado. As in, how they came to Adabat in the first place!

"Why the hell aren't you firing?" Guerrez's angry voice shouted through the radio as if on cue, "they're getting away, _¡por el amor de dios!_"

Strangely enough, it did not add to Robotnik's stress like he expected it to. "Tails is on my tail," he replied clumsily but without raising his own volume, "have to deal with him first, shouldn't-"

"Why the fuck didn't you fire on the building?" The man sounded like he was about to break his voice box. "You will be punished for this!"

_Oh please_, Robotnik thought smugly. Guerrez's response had made his lips crack into a smile, and he was even on the verge of laughing. _I really needed that_, he thought further, though it wasn't really for his mood. He stole a quick glance at the cell phone that he had placed next the radio and whose sound recorder had been turned on since the beginning. Fortunately, it was still on, and the battery had at least an hour left. The device, which originally belonged to some ARA captain who had already been killed in battle long ago, was old and outdated, but had proved to be immensely useful. After all, it was the same phone he had used to contact Robert Mayes over the last six months.

Overall, he did not regret not recklessly firing upon Sonic. He now knew that winning meant much more than doing that. But for now he had to put all those lessons aside. "You got lucky this time, Sonic," Robotnik muttered silently, but without any hint of anger or frustration that he would have had in the past.

Then, he began operating more controls. After a few seconds, the other two newly rearmed X-1s behind him in the hangar activated, as did their camera screens before his eyes, with the growl of their engines growing louder. "But let's see if your fox friend also does."

* * *

><p>"I've got the plane's attention, Sonic!" Tails reported urgently right after having smoked the Reaper earlier, "go help those people now!"<p>

"Gotcha!" Sonic replied as the two planes high above them flew right over with loud, piercing shrieks, sounding relieved for the first time since this entire disaster started, "won't have to worry about them anymore! Come on!"

"What about those guys behind us?" Rojas loudly asked as he frantically ran along the highway. Behind him, the ARA guerrillas were also coming out of the nearby buildings they'd only just realized were empty, and were already firing their weapons at them. Fortunately, they were too far away to hit accurately.

But those guys still had their jeeps next to them, and were undoubtedly trying to get inside to close the distance. "I'll handle it!" Sonic answered, "my turn, Knux! You guys keep going!" he continued before dashing in the opposite direction. Of course, that wasn't the real reason he wanted to do it. Aside from the fact that he could reach them faster, he simply didn't want to see any more blood spilled, no matter friend or foe. He wanted to chide Knuckles for crushing those four men with the SUV earlier, but was aware this wasn't the time.

The hedgehog slid forwards on the ground and jumped to avoid the incoming bullets, and then collided head-first into the men one the left side of their vehicles before they could get into them. Then, to make sure he wouldn't get shot as he U-turned, he tightly grabbed a lamppost with his right hand, instantly swung himself 180 degrees, and released his grip. Within a second or two, as well as minimum loss of momentum, he knocked down the men on the left side of the cars before proceeding to head back to Knuckles and Rojas, who were still running. "Problem solved!" he proclaimed as he slowed down next to them, though in a way that made him sound glad rather than cocky or triumphant.

"Right, we don't have time to cheer for your awesomeness," Knuckles remarked indifferently, "let's go."

"This will take too long," Rojas now said, clearly sounding frustrated as he ran up to a nearby sedan, whose door was open and lights still turned on. "I can't slow you down any longer. I'm using one of these cars, you go first, I'll catch up."

The echidna let out a sigh of relief. "About time," he said very gladly.

"Wait," Sonic called out with a raised hand, "what did your guys say on the radio?"

"There are only twelve of them left," Rojas said very quickly as he checked the car's dashboard, "they're surrounded and pinned down in a gas station. It should be visible from the highway. Now go!"

Without another word, Sonic and Knuckles nodded, before zooming off down the highway, finally able to do so at unrestrained speeds now that their little escort mission was finally complete.

"Thought you'd be happier now that we don't have to babysit him anymore," Knuckles commented to Sonic next to him as they kept going, having noticed his lack of a reaction just now. The hedgehog, of course, wasn't running at full speed, allowing the echidna to keep up.

"Sure, I am," Sonic replied immediately, "but I'm even happier we managed to protect at least one guy in this whole mess. Besides, technically I'm doin' the same with you now, right?" he couldn't help but add with a grin and wink.

The only reaction Knuckles could think of was to roll his eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

The teasing ended as the sound of gunfire became more audible. It was coming from the left, among a number of buildings that were ruined and barely standing, doubtlessly because of that X-1 continuously hitting this place earlier. The duo slowed down and jumped over to the opposite side of the highway before stopping at the stone side barrier to observe the situation carefully.

As it turned out, there were several guerrillas surrounding a small building, likely the gas station they were told about, while firing their weapons madly at it from various positions they had taken. The ones nearest to both of them and furthest away from the station were on two technicals, trucks with a manned heavy machine gun mounted in the bed, though there were two more behind the single-storey building on a grass lawn as well. The others were placed at the balconies on the building to the left, and at the large open windows on the right, as they continued shooting at the gas station with sniper rifles. From the gas station itself came sporadic, perhaps even rare, bursts of returned fire. Meanwhile, the nearby streets were filled with large craters and the burning carcasses of destroyed APCs and Humvees.

The deep, thunderous booms coming from the 50-caliber machine guns right before them would have been deafening to most people, but they were already used to much louder sounds coming from the Tornado. The two then looked at each other. "Thinking of what I'm thinking?" Sonic asked, not really needing to lower his voice as the gunfire helped to mask it.

"I go in a semicircle to the left, you to the right?" Knuckles asked back, which earned him a nod. "Great minds think alike!"

"So, you ready?"

"Wait! Let's confirm their positions first."

Knuckles scanned the building on the left to ascertain where the shooters were. There were six of them, all of whom were on the third floor, likely because going higher in this now structurally weakened building was too risky. Sonic saw that the building on the right contained eight men on the fourth floor, all firing and reloading relentlessly.

"Alright, I got it," Knuckles said affirmatively, "count of three?"

"Sure. But Knux, try not to kill these guys, okay?"

The echidna paused for a brief moment at his request. "Fine," he agreed grudgingly, "it's something I should train anyway. I'm tired of tossing cars." They placed their gloved hands on top of the barrier. "Okay…three, two, one…go!"

"Yeah!" Sonic said out loud as he and Knuckles climbed and leapt over the railing, actually sounding a bit excited as he did so, which surprised himself. Another part of his mind scolded him for its inappropriateness considering how serious the overall situation was, but he didn't care. "Dash and bash, baby!"

The first ones that had to go were the technicals. Each of them targeted the men handling the mounted HMGs in the back of each truck, neither of whom ever realized the two mobians had been there until they got solidly kicked in the back of their heads. They landed on the truck beds as the gunners collapsed to the side limply. Then it was time for the drivers, whose faces Sonic and Knuckles punched after they turned around to see why the guns had stopped firing, smashing through the rear glass of their vehicles to do so.

Next were the buildings. Luckily, the men inside did not seem to notice that their 50-cals were now down, but they definitely would soon. After getting off the trucks and heading towards the building they each had to take, Knuckles jumped up to the concrete wall and scaled it as fast as he could, while Sonic simply ran upwards vertically.

Once they reached the same level as the shooters, they both jumped onto the very left or right of the floor respectively. Knuckles smacked the sniper in front of him, before leaping over to the next balcony in front to deliver another jump kick to the head, and then alternated between the two moves for everyone else without slowing down.

Meanwhile, Sonic, not wanting to waste time, simply revved himself up for a spindash, aimed at the first unaware gunman, and finally let loose, ploughing straight into him, and him straight through the wall, and into another man, through another wall…when it came to the eight and last guy, he slowed down to make sure he didn't cause all of them to fly out through the building's exterior wall and fall to their deaths. Instead, all of them crashed and piled onto one another like oversized dolls, slumping unconsciously at the wall directly opposite the one where Sonic had started off.

By this time the remaining guerrillas on the other two technicals had realized something had happened to their comrades. They saw the hedgehog and echidna as they jumped off the floors they'd just cleared and landed on the grass, and in a panic, quickly turned their 50-cals to face them. As they did, however, the surviving Adabat Army SF commandos inside the gas station got their chance, and promptly used it to take proper aim at the gunners and fire. Unlike the bullet shower tactic the guerrillas used, however, their own shots were few but deadly. Due to their dwindling ammo supplies, they had to be.

The two mobians approached the trucks, ready to dodge the gunfire, even though it was the guerrillas who should have been trying to do that instead. Before they could start shooting again, the gunners were struck in the head by the commandos' rifle rounds. When the drivers came to their senses and tried to set their vehicles to reverse, more bullets flew their way and riddled their chests.

The sudden gore caused Sonic and Knuckles to shield their eyes and skid to a stop on the grass. The hedgehog in particular froze for several seconds, before finally sighing. _Oh well_, he thought, _already did what I could. No need to cry again over failing to save a few guys…at least not now_.

Things were finally silent once more. The duo turned around to face the gas station, which the SF commandos were already slowly coming out of. To the right, they heard the sound of a vehicle approaching, causing all of them to turn their heads and the men to raise their weapons, worried that it could be a possible danger. But they saw that it was the same car that Rojas had gotten into earlier. "Wait, it's Sergeant Rojas!" Sonic cried out loud to the team, hoping that despite the language barrier, the mention of the name would get their attention.

It seemed to work as the commandos stared at Sonic, utterly startled, though many of them continued to keep their weapons up. Then, as the car stopped and its driver got out, they started murmuring amongst themselves in a mix of shock and joy, looking and sounding clearly relieved that their boss was alright.

To the mobians' surprise, Rojas and the team ended up doing a big group hug. Many of them were very clearly smiling, but at the same time, there was a hint of sadness in some of their expressions too, with the younger ones having tears flowing out of their eyes, due to their many teammates who had been killed here. Regardless, Sonic himself couldn't help but smile for the first time in hours. To his side, although Knuckles didn't do the same, he also seemed satisfied at the scene, that they had at least managed to come this far.

"Thanks a lot, you two!" the sergeant said to both of them. The hedgehog realized that it was the first time he saw the man smile, too. "Now we finally might be able to really fight back!"

Sonic wasn't sure what to say, so he simply did the only action that came to him: showing a thumbs up.

"Hate to interrupt your touchy-feeliness, Sonic," Knuckles said in his usual grumpy tone, "but we don't have time to stand around smiling. How's Tails?"

In an instant, Sonic's grin quickly disappeared. He had completely forgotten about him! At the same time, however, they noticed the distinctive and familiar swoosh sounds slowly became more audible. The two looked up to see jet planes streak across the skies again, but now, there were four of them, and it appeared to be three chasing one. _The_ one.

"Tails?" Sonic called out in a hurry, "you okay?"

"Sonic!" the fox called back as he handled the controls hard, sounding relieved but nervous. "How are ya!"

"I'm, uh, okay. Me and Knux managed to help save the last few Army guys in the city."

"That's great! I'm okay too, but these things are pretty tough! Might take a while to shake them off, but don't worry about me! Just get out of the city and deal with the guys on the ground out there! I'll handle the ones in the sky!"

The hedgehog continued looking at the aerial spectacle as he listened to Tails. The X-1s chasing after him seemed rather aggressive, though no more so than Robotnik's previous creations. "Alright, bud," Sonic replied, not sounding so worried anymore, "good luck to ya! We're gonna flip this fight upside down!"

"You too! See you later!"

Sonic ended the conversation right there and walked up to Rojas' team. "'kay guys, tell us where to go and what to do," he said as he showed a pair of determined fists, his vigor now clearly renewed, "'cause we. Are. Ready."

* * *

><p>Tails was not having an easy time. The duel with the single X-1 had been going nowhere, as he had been trading the positions of hunter and hunted with it multiple times with neither aircraft gaining any advantage over the other. Every missile that he had fired at it so far had been forcibly detonated in mid-air, making it obvious that Robotnik had installed his own ADS taken from the flying fortress way back. Fortunately, its own missiles were unsuccessful at hitting the Tornado. The limited number of missiles each plane carried meant they were now trying to hit each other with their chain guns instead, which also brought little progress.<p>

But now two additional X-1s had come in to join the fight against him, and it was making him sweat. He was now in purely defensive mode, outflying them and their attacks, but the fear that his own ECM could be overwhelmed anytime soon continued to grow. His plane may have been powered by Chaos energy, but if Robotnik had upgraded the defences on these planes, they likely were as well, meaning there was no way either of them would run out of fuel anytime soon.

And he did not have Sonic up here with him to wait on the wing and spindash them when they got close. He was on his own. But he didn't tell Sonic that - he couldn't. He had to do as much as he could against these things without him.

What he was worried about the most, however, wasn't himself, the plane, Sonic or Knuckles, but everyone else. If the Tornado were downed, it wouldn't necessarily mean his own death…but it could certainly mean that of many, many others on Adabat, since there would be little to no way to fight the X-1s then.

But then…it has always been that way while fighting Robotnik, wasn't it? The safety of others had always been more vulnerable than their own, and therefore more precious.

_But these things are hard to beat!_ he thought again as he was snapped out of his thoughts by what he saw before him. One of the planes he was trying to get behind had pulled off a Pugachev's cobra, the difficult manoeuver that let a jet aircraft slip from in front of an enemy plane to behind it, at least if the pilot doing so were lucky. It was the second time already. Was it really that much easier to perform it with UAVs?

Tails was about to do the trick himself, however much stress it placed on him and the plane, when something else happened that made him change his mind. He realized that, at long last, he wasn't alone up here – and it made him very glad indeed.

At least two new jets appeared on his radar, and were coming in fast from the north. Soon enough, they passed by, and even though he only could see them for a split second, he could instantly tell that they were F/A-18 Hornets, though it was harder to see if it was the ordinary or Super variant. These planes were the current main carrier-based aircraft used by the US Navy.

That could only mean one thing. Tails decided to head north as well, dropping a few flares in the process to shake off another missile tailing him. In the far distance, sure enough, there were a few bright lights shining against the pitch black sky on the horizon. The fleet was here!

"Spike-1, this is Shadow-1 of the _Abraham Lincoln_. Need a hand, over?" a man's smooth, Southern-accented voice came over the radio.

Tails would normally be wary of how they knew about his frequency, but that just wasn't important now. "Shadow-1, this is Spike-1," he replied quickly, sounding even younger than usual due to his relief, "yeah, I really could use your help. So glad you're here! Uh, over!" he made sure to add at the end.

"Roger that," the other pilot answered, sounding incredibly calm and cool unlike himself, which Tails couldn't help but admire, "let's try bringing 'em over to the fleet, let 'em eat some surface-to-air supper, over!"

Tails immediately understood the pilot's idea, which was a good one. The fleet undoubtedly had plenty of anti-air missiles. They had to throw everything they could against the X-1s to overcome their ADS. If the same tactic worked on the flying fortress last time, it could work again on something much smaller. Hopefully. "Got it, Shadow-1," the fox replied, "by the way, thank you so much!"

* * *

><p>"Unbelievable," the ARA captain remarked in disgust after the recording on the phone ended. "He pretends to care about us when we're around, and now we find out he's willing to throw our lives away when it's too inconvenient?" the man continued with a steadily rising volume and anger.<p>

Robotnik put the cell phone down with a smug smile on his face, saying nothing. It really spoke for itself, didn't it?

"Thank you for exposing this. You know, I've never really liked either of those two brothers anyway," the captain said, staring straight into Robotnik's eyes behind his sunglasses. "My men will report to you from now on. Just tell us what to do."

The fat scientist's smile only grew even larger. "Hahahaha! Oh, well then, in that case, show this recording to as many others as possible. Let's see how many more will be willing to work for him after this."

"Understood," the man said before he and his several bodyguards turned to leave the hangar.

Robotnik quickly turned back to his control consoles, whereupon his smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The US and Canadian navies were now here, he saw, their ships and planes visible on the screens.

His lips were as straight as a ruler as he tightly gripped the controls. He wondered if he could handle both his X-1s and his newly gained subordinates at the same time, as he wasn't sure he could leave the autopilots to handle the new threats alone. _Oh well_, he thought. If he had to ditch the men that had just started to genuinely trust him in the end to get out of here, so be it. They didn't matter. What he had learned here did.


	11. Chapter 10: Plans

**Chapter 10: Plans**

"More children are coming!" the soldier shouted in frustration as he and his team, who were dug down in a muddy ditch, continued to pick off the guerrillas coming out of the bushes, who only seemed to be getting younger and younger. Most of the ones that were firing upon them now appeared to be only ten or eleven years old.

"Do not hesitate!" another soldier of a higher rank, a captain, replied sternly and loudly through all the gunfire and noise, "they're not children anymore! Just keep firing!"

The troops were fully aware, of course, that hesitating to fire upon these child soldiers was exactly what the ARA intended them to do, and they were not about to give in to that. Save a few children, or the whole country? The choice was clear. They raised their weapons, the heads of the kids directly in their sights, fully ready to make that decision.

Someone else, however, had a different idea in mind.

A split second before the soldiers started firing, a blue streak zoomed into view from the left, seemingly out of nowhere, racing towards the child soldiers, who also had no time to react. The moment the blue blur came into physical contact with the first kid, he was seemingly lifted upwards and away, and the same thing happened to everyone else beside him in quick succession from left to right. Some of them dropped their rifles on the ground and screamed loudly in the process, as if they were being devoured, when they were in fact being saved.

Sonic the Hedgehog did a quick 180, moved in the opposite direction and came to a quick stop on the grass before the soldiers, who were stunned into motionlessness. The expression on his face, in his eyes, as he gently but quickly dropped all the similarly shocked kids onto the ground was that of relief and exhaustion. He had never thought he could carry that many kids in his hands at once. "All yours, guys!" Sonic simply said before turning around and rushing off, without throwing in a thumbs up or wink like he normally would, as right now, even the Fastest Thing Alive didn't have the time for that. Or the mood, for that matter.

"Nice job," Knuckles said as he finally caught up with Sonic and ran alongside him.

"Thanks, just doing what's necessary," Sonic replied, not sounding casual or playful like he commonly did, "anyway, let's clear this town."

The echidna nodded. "I got your back."

With nothing more to be said, Sonic and Knuckles charged head-first into the town ahead, ready to deal with any encounter in it…or at least they thought so.

* * *

><p>"What is the meaning of this?" Guerrez asked angrily and incredulously, his tone suggesting he still had some semblance of authority, when the reality was quite different now. Before him were several tall men that were supposedly under his command, but were now aiming guns and deadly stares at him.<p>

"We have overheard of your earlier plan to bomb our brothers," one of them, a muscular, brown-haired thirty-year old stated in clear disgust, "and worse yet is how callous and uncaring you were when you gave it. Our lives are no more important to you than they were to Alfonso, are they?"

This instantly caused Guerrez to stand up. "Are you kidding me?" he snarledloudly, giving a glare just as venomous back to these traitors, "that fat _cabr__ó__n_ let Sonic the Hedgehog _live_! Do you know how much damage he will cause to us now?"

"He could have easily killed Sonic without jeopardizing up to twenty of our own men, at least not until that fox showed up in his own fancy jet."

"And you actually believe him?"

"Yes. Yes we do," the man replied without any hesitation, took a step forwards, and continued, "and there have been more signs that that. Your failure to regard Sonic and his friends as a threat when you first learned of their presence here, even though Robotnik advised you to go after them first, leading to your ill-fated stunt on the embassies. Then in a hasty change of mind, you decide to send everyone to chase after the fastest and most dangerous aliens on the planet…" He rolled his eyes at this point, "…merely as bait so that you can get them killed with their own air support. Your revealing comment earlier was the final straw.

"Robotnik, on the other hand, has proven his genius and worth. All the machines and equipment he has gotten for us, his swift takeover of an entire military base, his destruction of at least three Army units and the corrupt elite scum of Ocampo-"

"What?" Guerrez interrupted, eyes wide open and sounding shocked now, "that was _my_ idea!"

"Can you prove it?"

"You honestly think he would have come up with it himself?"

"How couldn't he? He's the one manning all our aircraft, including the ones used to spy on the military's movements and seeing that they were in that wretched hive, and he knows who lives there. What else would he have done with those planes after seeing that? Sightseeing?"

He tried so hard to raise his voice even further, but his vocal cords really couldn't handle much more. "How the hell do you trust a complete stranger over me!"

"You sure didn't call him a stranger before!" the man shouted back, rifle still raised. "Enough with this. For now, you are relieved of duty as leader of the ARA, and are to be put into confinement. Once the revolution is complete, you will be tried and judged for your conduct thus far. At best, you'll get demoted, and at worst, you join your brother. All of you, take him in."

The group of five began to surround him, and there was nothing Guerrez could do or say about it as they began pushing him out of his so-called command center, though the latter was probably for the better, for the sake of his throat and blood pressure.

Minutes later, he was thrown into a makeshift containment cell deep within their stronghold and locked behind the steel bars, a place normally reserved for those in the ARA whose loyalty or competence were under scrutiny. A place he never imagined he would end up in._ Dios mio_, he thought with a blank expression, _my brother was right about him_.

"It is done," the muscular man said into the radio while walking away from the cell area, "Guerrez is out of the way. You may issue any further orders as you please, though I would suggest inventing a temporary pretext for replacing him, so that those still loyal to Guerrez don't cause problems. If they ask, we'll back you up."

"Excellent," the voice of Robotnik replied gleefully, "well done! Finally, rather than chasing after Sonic, we can make him come to us instead!" he continued with a cackle. "Boy, is he in for a surprise!" He moved himself away from the radio before snickering again._ Gullible suckers_, he thought, amazed that he actually managed to steal credit for Guerrez's only good idea so far so easily. He was glad he hadn't turned on the recorder while the then-leader gave it earlier, or that any of the guerrillas in this base were in the hangar at the time.

Robotnik was alerted back to reality as he noticed of the incoming attack on the screen, and quickly jerked the joystick around in alarm. He managed to avoid the rapid burst of bullets that came his way. At least another two hundred of their rounds wasted. Good.

Nevertheless, he hoped he could get this over with as quickly as possible. The carrier's fleet was disrupting the ARA's own urgently needed air support, as well as annoying him and wasting his time. But of course, none of the F/A-18s were doing that as well as Tails' Tornado. He still couldn't believe he had forgotten entirely about that plane, which was what forced him to completely readjust his plans on dealing with the mobians in the first place. _Grr_, he thought, _damn you, you little fox and your fancy Navy friends!_

* * *

><p>"Let's try it one more time!" Tails said frantically into the radio as he veered his aircraft hard towards the left to keep going after one of the X-1s. "I saw one of the missiles come really close. If we all fire at it at once, we might be able to score a direct hit!"<p>

"Roger that," Shadow One replied as he and five other friendly birds soared around the Tornado, "what about the other two, over?"

"They're both behind me, don't worry about them, but we gotta hurry!" the fox clarified nervously, hoping his own ECM could hold up to the aggressive attacks of the other two X-1s. He was deeply curious how Robotnik could be controlling three planes at once. There had to be a certain degree of automation involved. Flying _one_ jet was tough enough.

"Okay, he's almost in position, get ready!" he added very quickly, his mouth becoming even sorer in the process. The rate at which he had to speak in the last few minutes almost made him wish he was a telepath rather than a flyer. Almost.

"Got it, on your mark, over!"

The X-1 had shaken off all attacks on it thus far despite the arrival of numerous enemy planes, but Tails was hopeful he had discovered the limitations of its Aggressive Defense System. The advanced jet was about to fly over the designated kill spot in the sky, where it would be surrounded by airborne F/A-18s and Tornado with their noses pointed at it in all directions except from below, which would be handled by the destroyers with their anti-air missiles. According to the fox's estimations, however, they only had a two-second window to pull it off, not just because of how fast it would pass through, but also due to the two X-1s still pursuing him.

"Almost, almost…" The targeting system had already gotten a lock-on. Time went by incredibly fast in a dogfight, and Tails had to mentally slow down – or was it the opposite, really? – in order to see the exact spot where the X-1 was about to be. After several milliseconds, he was able to get the right position with a margin of error that could be measured in inches. "Now!" he shouted as he pressed the trigger hard, hoping the others were doing the same thing at the exact same time.

In an instant, up to twenty anti-air missiles came roaring off of their pylons or out of their launch tubes, all headed toward the same target. If he was right, the X-1's ADS could only handle up to fifteen, which was impressive, as it still required such a disproportionate amount of opposing firepower to defeat it. Nevertheless, Tails could see five missiles get through the spherical radius around the X-1 the other fifteen didn't, and he almost let out a sigh of relief at the sight.

Then he remembered something that stopped him cold. Looking outside of his canopy he could see that some of the F/A-18s were nearer to the enemy plane than he was. Way nearer. "Don't get too close!" Tails cried out in a panic, "it might expl-"

BOOM!

The explosion that followed was not solely the result of the five missiles, but of the X-1's power source as well. Which was the same as that flying fortress six months ago, and everyone knew what happened to that one after its engines got too damaged. This meant that the fireball the jet erupted into and the shockwave it produced was far bigger than they would expect from ordinary enemy aircraft.

"Son of a bi-" one of the aviators said in surprise as all aircraft in the area, and even a few of the destroyers below, felt the effects of the explosion to varying degrees. The Tornado shook violently, causing Tails to yelp in fear, though a second later it stopped doing so, and it was clear that was all that would happen to him as he was a far away enough. As he was about to turn away, he stole a quick glance to the side, which lasted for just half a second, but it was enough to make him gasp.

At least four of the F/A-18s weren't so lucky and had suffered catastrophic damage. Two of them had at least one wing torn off completely, and the other two were on fire, though exactly which parts were burning, he couldn't tell. Immediately, he found himself gulping, very concerned that the pilots may not have survived a boom so close to them.

"This is Shadow Two ejecting now!" a voice exclaimed over the radio, sounding rushed but oddly calm, like they were prepared for this somehow.

"Shadow Three ejecting!"

"Shadow Four ejecting!"

"Blaze Three-Four ejecting!"

_At least they're alive_, Tails thought, _thank go-_

He didn't even have time to catch his breath when his systems detected rapid gunfire coming up behind him again. The other two X-1s had also kept their distance from the third one, likely intentionally, and were undauntedly continuing their pursuit of the Tornado. Grinding his teeth, Tails professionally spun the plane around to avoid them. Knowing he had to multitask, he decided to communicate with the others at the same time. "This is Spike One!" he called out apprehensively, actually sounding like a kid for the first time to any military serviceman that he'd worked with, "is anyone else alright, over?"

He so dearly wanted to apologize for not having remembered this deadly fact sooner so that he could inform them, but he didn't dare to lest he provoked an angry backlash, or rather, make the backlash he was already going to get even worse.

"This is Shadow One, shaken but still in the air," the calm, Southern-accented reply came, "Spike One, you okay, over?"

Something about the man's voice was so smooth and soothing, and hearing it almost instantly calmed the little fox. "Yeah, I am!" he replied in relief, before continuing in a regretful tone, "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know that was gonna happen until…until…"

"Don't worry about them," Shadow One simply said in return, "they'll be okay, the boats will help them up, but what the hell happened, over?" The way he asked it made him sound more curious than shocked.

"You're not mad?" Tails couldn't help but ask. "Oh wai-sorry, yeah, uh, I'd just recalled that those X-1s may have had their power sources changed by Robotnik so that they run on Chaos Emerald energy, like the flying fortress near LA last time," he explained quickly, "I only realized it because of how he's installed his own ECM on them, so he could have added that too, but…I didn't remember."

"So we gotta keep our distance while hitting them," Shadow One replied in understanding, "got it, we'll get backup birds from the _Lincoln_, and some of 'em's gotta go provide air support over on land, but until they're in the air, you'll have to get the other two off of me, over."

"Roger that! Leave it to me!" Tails answered, sounding glad for the first time since this skirmish began and feeling thankful that Shadow One did not react the way he thought he would. Focusing on the enemy jets behind him, he pushed the controls all the way towards the right so hard he thought the levers might snap. The Tornado was tough, but he still had to be incredibly careful not to let his own engines get hit. The whole fight was making Tails seriously consider ditching the Chaos energy power source after all this was over. He'd done his best to make sure it was stable and well-armored, but seeing how the X-1 blew up was now giving him serious doubts about that. Unless it was deliberate?

_Wait a second_…he froze again as another realization struck him, and this time, he really hoped it wasn't too late as well. "Uh, hold on," he added nervously, "I gotta talk to Sonic!"

* * *

><p>The large village, or small town, of Llemo was located two kilometers roughly northwest of the country's eastern military base now under ARA control and three south of that group's mountain stronghold, the same one Sonic and Tails had visited more than twenty-four hours earlier, where they had thought they had accomplished their mission.<p>

Sonic found it tragically naïve in hindsight, and for that reason he was very sure he'd have to head back there soon, but for now, Llemo took priority.

From what he and Knuckles had been told by Sergeant Rojas, a massive battle had taken place here, before the Army had been utterly driven out by the powerful autobuggies the ARA now had. They definitely had to go before focus could be shifted onto both the captured military base and the mountain stronghold. For now, however, they would observe the area and the duo's progress with their RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV, which was high-altitude and mercifully not seized by Robotnik, but had no weapons.

The area had a low population density, with small buildings and houses a good distance away from each other, separated by dusty paths, plantation fields and forests. It was normally pretty dark on most nights too, but now it was illuminated by various large fires, mostly coming from the wreckages of destroyed Army vehicles scattered around, as well as several burning houses.

The main west-to-east path into the village went over a small hill, which was where Sonic and Knuckles were crouched on now, as it was the best vantage point for observing the place that they could get. The road had been clear so far, but down the hill some twenty meters in front of them were two autobuggies positioned side-by-side, between the first groups of buildings they could see. They noticed that these were of a different model than the ones used in the airport long ago – their grey hulls were wider and more angular, and their six wheels were directly underneath the sides of the vehicles rather than sticking outwards, making them less exposed, while also having a different type of turret on top, which probably meant different weaponry. Apart from that, there were no other visible enemies.

"That's all?" Sonic remarked quietly, confused, "don't see what the Army's scared of. You want the left or right one?"

The echidna was silent as he scanned the area more intently. "Neither," he concluded, "something's wrong. Why are there only two of these things just standing there?"

Neither of them said anything for several seconds. "Good point," Sonic said, frowning, "it looks like we should just charge through 'em, but...can't be that simple." He turned to look at Knuckles. "So what do you think-"

"Sonic! You there?" Tails' young voice suddenly called out loudly in the hedgehog's ear, which visibly startled him and caused him to fall backwards. Knuckles stood up raising his fists, apparently thinking something had attacked Sonic, though he stopped as he saw Blue extend a palm towards him while his other hand pointed at his ear.

"Uh, yeah, Tails? You kinda scared me there," Sonic replied quickly, not raising his voice as he remembered what the boy was busy dealing with right now.

"Sorry, it's just, I remembered something really important and I…I was worried I was too late," the fox said frantically.

"Too late for what?" the hedgehog asked curiously.

"It's that, the X-1s here are powered by extracted Chaos energy like the Tornado, one just exploded in front of me and took down a whole lot of friendlies…I'm just thinking those autobuggies on the ground could be powered by the same thing, and if you or Knux simply tore through them like we normally do-"

"Then we could get killed by the explosions," Sonic completed, eyes wide open now as he realized just what could have happened. But other questions were popping up in his head. "Wait, but that didn't happen on Mobius or in the airport last time."

"Those were still powered by gas…actually, maybe the ones here are too, but I really don't think it's worth the risk. You have to disable them by hitting them anywhere except the engines, just in case."

"Huh, come to think of it, back in the airport I actually remember smelling gas after smashing those things…hey, uh, you think they come from the same flying fortress?"

"I guess. I don't see where else they could have come from. Probably got ejected into the ocean the same time as Robotnik himself."

"Hmm…alright, I get it, I'll tell Knuckles everything. You okay?"

"Holding up so far," he admitted, "I'm just glad I could inform you about this in time. Uh, gotta go, bye!"

"Right, thanks for the info, bud. Good luck!"

"What was that about?" Knuckles asked curiously.

Sonic quickly thought of a way to summarize what he'd just learned. "Those bots could be powered by Chaos energy. Basically, they'll explode the moment we tear through 'em the usual way," he said, "but we still gotta take them down for the Army to get through. Just hit everything _but_ the engines. And by the way, I'm takin' the right one."

The echidna nodded. "Good to know. We're sure not walking into his traps just like that. Count of three?"

Sonic was about to agree when he remembered something. "Uh, wait up," he said as he reached his fingers to his earpiece and fiddled with a setting on it to switch to the other frequency – namely, the one tuned to Sergeant Rojas' unit, which the man had given to Sonic before they came here. "Hey, uh, sarge? I mean, Tango Six? It's So-I mean, Blur One," he quickly corrected, recalling the callsigns he was supposed to use, "we're gonna move soon."

"Got it," Rojas replied loud and clear, "we've got you on the UAV and will keep you updated on what we'll do."

"Alright, sure. Anyway, time for us to begin. Out," he said before turning to Knuckles, who nodded as a sign of readiness. "Okay…three, two, one…go!"

Both of them jumped off the hill and straight towards the two unsuspecting autobuggies. This time, however, they did not simply punch or spindash through them as usual, but landed on their hulls to disable them more neatly and safely. Knuckles punched the turret off the vehicle with his fist, while Sonic destroyed the same part by dropping down on it with a controlled spin, so that he didn't just penetrate the entire bot from top to bottom. In the process, the hedgehog remembered that this was exactly what he and Tails also did a long time ago, when they had first begun fighting Robotnik together, as they needed to scavenge all the parts and resources they could find, which meant causing as little damage as possible to the enemy bots while still neutralizing the threats they posed.

He also remembered, however, that this method also took more time, a few more seconds to be exact, and required them to stay relatively still. This had been quite risky in the past, as other bots or enemies had a better chance of getting a shot off at them.

_And it still is_, Sonic suddenly realized with a cold sweat. As he uncurled himself and stood up on the squashed turret, his instincts quickly told him to look to the sides, at the nearby buildings. "Uh, Knux?" he called out.

"Yeah?"

"Jump now!" Sonic shouted urgently as he leapt off the back of the vehicle. Although confused, Knuckles did the same anyway, as he was sure the blue blur had a good reason for doing so. And as he shot a quick glance to the left before he landed, it hit him. Almost literally, too.

Just as Sonic had suspected, there were ARA guerrillas hiding on the roofs of the buildings, definitely placed there as part of a Plan B. They had already revealed themselves and fired their RPGs the instant Sonic had made eye contact with them.

"Come on!" They both pumped their legs to dash as fast they could into the village and away from the trap they thought they had avoided. They managed to get ten meters away behind the autobuggies before no less than five rockets slammed into a very specific spot of each vehicle.

The distance would normally be enough to save them from the massive fireballs that were supposed to consume them. Here, however, they found themselves getting hit from behind by shockwaves powerful enough to feel like solid walls, and were promptly sent flying into the air. With a surprised yell, the two ended up landing onto a patch of grass before somersaulting into the bushes in front.

When they finally came to a stop, Sonic sat up properly and rubbed his sore backside with gritted teeth. _Getting literally kicked in the ass_, he noted with a tiny bit of amusement, _well, better than getting it burned!_ "Knux, you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," the echidna said as he got up and shook his head roughly, "guess Tails was right about what's powering those things. We better move!"

They both darted in opposite directions sideways just in time to avoid a hail of incoming bullets and yet more rockets that peppered and lit up the bushes. They were coming from the same buildings that housed the guerrillas that nearly killed them, and for that they quickly became the duo's first targets. Turning to run in the same direction together now, Sonic and Knuckles rushed up the sides of the two buildings, dodging more shots while doing so, and landed on the roofs. All that could be seen next were a blue and red blur speedily knocking into the groups of armed men one by one, who never got another chance to counterattack before getting pummelled into unconsciousness. The entire process took only a matter of seconds.

No time to rest or bloat, however, as they were hardly the only armed hostiles in the area. More autobuggies had shown up from deeper in the village to unload its own weapons, launching several rockets towards the duo, though they hit nothing but thin air as their targets jumped off the buildings in time.

From there, Sonic and Knuckles ran separately along both sides of the circle around the bushes they fell into earlier but looking in the same general direction. At least four new autobuggies had appeared from around the small buildings, and likely a few more coming up from behind those too as backup.

They closed the distance between them and the bots and began attacking them in the same methodical way again, only they aimed and hoped to be much faster this time. Approaching the one on the left from its left side, Sonic simply leaped up the turret, curling into a spin just before contact, and sliced the slab of metal off, before continuing straight through the air and cutting into the second buggy from the left. Knuckles took the one on the right, running up and kicking himself off from a wooden lamp post. As the echidna sailed through the air, he held his fist up, and his momentum swiftly allowed it to smash through one turret and then through the other.

After taking out the four turrets, the two collided in midair between the two center autobuggies, although this was intentional, as they had to rebound and aim for the bottom parts of the vehicles. Sonic's quills cut into the tires while Knuckles just did a quick left-to-right clash through all three at once, puncturing and dislodging them from their axles completely. Immediately after that, the hedgehog jumped over the immobilized vehicle to do the same to the leftmost bot, while the echidna grabbed the one before him and forcibly hauled it several meters backwards before rushing ahead to punch the tires of the rightmost vehicle.

Once he was done, Sonic somersaulted over the bot back to Knuckles' side and landed on his feet. "Twice the damage in half the time!" he exclaimed, daring to sound a little excited. No doubt about it, he definitely found doing this rather exhilarating, even if he didn't exactly like the circumstances surrounding it. Then again, he realized, that had always been the case even on Mobius, wasn't it? Hate the war, love the action.

"Here comes round two!" Knuckles said, not sounding as entertained, referring to the next wave of autobuggies, which seemed even larger in number than the previous one, coming out from the dirt paths behind more sets of houses. The duo would have charged ahead if not for the fact that these particular bots weren't alone. Amongst them was a large squad of guerrillas armed with rifles and machine guns, and they even had air support in the form of a captured helicopter hovering above, which had rocket pods and miniguns. And all of them were firing them right now.

Not wanting to get caught in yet another oversized explosion, Sonic and Knuckles bailed, dashing together to the left into a field with tall grass. Fortunately, the bullets and rockets didn't hit the autobuggies they'd KOed just now, though they did not stop running as they knew these ARA forces were definitely going to keep holding down on their triggers. True enough, their munitions trailed behind the duo by bare feet, scorching much of the grass in the process.

"We gotta do something about that chopper!" Sonic said loudly, his tone indicating he now found this a lot less fun compared to just a few seconds ago. He stole a quick glance behind and at the dark sky to see the Huey following them without ceasing fire, and quickly felt a lump forming in his throat. How was he supposed to take that out without killing anyone inside? Especially since he also noticed that the ground forces were also coming after them.

"Blur One, it's Tango Six," Rojas' voice came in again, "air support is coming in now. Keep running and stay clear, over!"

"What?" Sonic said loudly, surprised at this information.

"Don't ask questions, just keep away from the village, over!"

Still running, Sonic opened his mouth to inquire more just as several things happened very quickly in a very short amount of time. The first was a loud boom coming from above, which coincided with the sonic boom of some supersonic projectile, a sound the hedgehog was familiar with. Angling their feet forwards and scraping the soil to a halt, they looked up to see the helicopter having burst into flames and was fierily tumbling towards the surface. Before the question of what happened even formed in their minds, it was answered by two fighter jets, likely Adabat Air Force F-16s, screeching past.

Barely a second later, a massive fireball, of several of them, materialized and consumed the ground that they just flew over, the same area where the huge concentration of enemies were. The flash was bright enough to make Sonic and Knuckles raise their arms to their eyes, and for a moment they simply stood there, hearing nothing but a loud, continuous ring.

It wasn't the largest explosion they had ever seen, but it was certainly the first time they were so near to one of this size, which completely dwarfed the ones caused by unstable Chaos energy sources, although those definitely contributed to this. _Man_, Sonic thought, _human weapons are _powerful. As was their urge to use them, apparently.

They had no idea how long it took, but the ringing in their ears finally stopped, and the sound of something big burning slowly became audible. This was accompanied by the smell. They lowered their hands, and when they saw what was ahead of them, Sonic froze completely, while Knuckles simply whistled in awe. "Well," the echidna commented blankly, "I guess we don't now."

Pretty much the whole area right ahead of them was gone, mostly in flames. The houses, the trees, the vehicles, the people, any object that could burn…everything.

The sight instantly caused Sonic to feel a deep, intense discomfort, almost to the point of making him ill. He'd wanted to get rid of the ARA threat in Llemo, but most certainly not this way.

At this moment, his ears picked up a new sound. When he realized what it was, it only made his heart sink even deeper. _No, no_…without even willing them to do so, his legs seemed to automatically begin moving him towards the source, seemingly somewhere in the bombarded area.

The ground had been blackened and flattened by the bombs, but otherwise could still be walked on. This included the same spot which Sonic and Knuckles were on earlier before they ran into the grass, and naturally this was where the hedgehog also came to a stop. He glanced around somberly, eyes and ears trying to trace the source of the sound. A few seconds later, he finally spotted it near one of the destroyed autobuggies…only to wish he hadn't.

If the sound caused his heart to sink, the sight probably tore it out of his chest entirely. Right there, between the autobuggy husk and a burning house, stood a small boy in tattered clothes, probably of single-digit age, who was crying loudly. The kid had somehow survived the bombing, though currently he looked like he wished he didn't. "_¡Papá!_" he shouted in-between sobs, "_¡Papá!_"

"Sonic?" Knuckles asked as he came up to Sonic, "are you al…oh," he said as he noticed the same thing Sonic continued to stare out. "Don't tell me…"

"He's…he's trying to find his dad," Sonic muttered very softly, "but…he can't." Was the boy's father one of the guerrillas? Did it even matter? To say the hedgehog was familiar with the scene was a huge understatement – he could already see the comparison, seeing your own family getting bombed right before your eyes, only this kid didn't even have a mother left to say any last words. It was even possible she had just been killed in one of the houses here. Who knew who else was?

But there was also the other big difference. Namely, that this bombing had been performed by people who were supposed to be good guys…_right?_

"Sonic?" Rojas' voice called, interrupting the hedgehog's increasingly unstable thoughts, "we're right behind you. We're coming up now. Out." This was followed by the engine noises of various heavy vehicles approaching the duo from where they had come from.

_Perfect timing_, Sonic thought, trembling hands curling into fists. Slowly, he and Knuckles turned around to face the group of Humvees and APCs that had come to a halt several meters away.

The first person to step out of the leading Humvee was, of course, Rojas himself, followed by his teammates who had been pinned down in Adabat City earlier. "Sonic," the sergeant called out loud, sounding apparently oblivious to the destruction ahead or the hedgehog's emotions, something that was about to change, "are you okay?"

"O…kay?" Sonic repeated, quietly but with a most disgusted tone, as he gave the man the most chilling stare he had ever given anyone. "Okay?" he said again, this time in the form of a sharp yell. "How the hell _can_ I be okay? If that kid isn't-" He spun around to point at the still crying boy before snapping back, "-then neither am I! How could you do this?" he asked, honestly surprised at how sharp and harsh he sounded, due to how rarely he did so, but he didn't give a damn about that right now.

There was a collective gasp among the SF team as they saw the crying child. Rojas gestured to one of his men, and the commando quickly ran ahead to the boy to hopefully comfort him. As he got close, the kid's first reaction, predictably, was to scream even louder while feebly hitting the man's abdomen with the bottom of his fists.

"I mean, don't you see?" Sonic continued, now sounding slightly calmer, "you just did the same thing here as the ARA did with all those people in the city!"

"_¿Qué?_" Now it was Rojas' turn to raise his voice as he strode up to the hedgehog with a finger pointed at him, "don't you _dare_ say that! We did not deliberately target civilians, and I'm not even the one who gave the order!"

"But you _would_, would you?" Sonic shot back.

"If I had to, _yes_, I would!" the sergeant replied even more loudly, causing even the battle-hardened commandos nearby to be startled. Taking a deep breath, he continued with a slightly reduced volume, "that boy has my condolences, and I am truly sorry for what happened to his family. But this is _war_. And in war, you use the fastest, most effective way that provides maximum benefit with minimum cost to eliminate your enemy. And the airstrike here was exactly that."

"Then what did we go in there for?"

"To provide a distraction for the autobuggies so that they wouldn't fire on our aircraft."

"Are you kidding me?" Knuckles growled, deciding to join in after hearing that, "you used us?"

"We could have done it ourselves!" Sonic argued.

"Perhaps, but like I said, we need the fastest and most effective way. You were fast, but the airstrike was still faster, even more so considering your pacifistic tendencies, the number of enemies, and the helicopter showing up. And in case you didn't notice, the ARA is now everywhere else in the country now. They've entered the southwest after crushing and infesting Adabat City, and are definitely heading east from there as well. Every second we waste is another extra second for them to damage us. Just like they decapitated our leadership, we must do the same to them _now_," he said in a huff before taking a step back, "also, did it not occur to you that this was deliberate on the ARA's part? To mix themselves among innocent civilians so that we can't attack?"

"But that's what you planned to do back in the city before they bombarded it the second time!" Sonic pointed out in disbelief.

"That was when we had been driven back and had no choice, and we were planning on evacuating the people there anyway. Here, the ARA did it because they could. And this is with people they supposedly care for!"

"Do you?"

"Well, last I checked, we're not the ones targeting and slaughtering them." Rojas sighed before going on. "Look…I won't say we're saints. Nobody is in war. What we just did was proof of that, I will admit. But sooner or later, we had to make hard decisions. And I doubt that they are equally hard for the ARA, especially your nemesis, Dr. Robotnik."

Nearby, the boy's cries had been reduced to soft sobs, and he was now sniffling gently against the same commando that went up to him, his face utterly crumpled and wet. Rojas took a weary glance at him. "As for the boy…we'll find someone to take care for him. It's the least we can, and will, do." Then he looked back at the mobian duo. "But for now, we must go on. It's time to take back the base. We'll wait for you to do your thing again, and this time, there won't be any airstrikes, not on our own facilities…nor any children, for that matter."

Sonic found himself at a loss for words as he stared at the ground sighing. _God, I really hate moral dilemmas_. He had neither the philosophic mindset nor the time to contemplate this. "Y-yeah, let's get out of here, Knux," he simply said weakly as he started walking away, "we'll take back the base alright."

"One more thing," Rojas stated. Sonic reluctantly turned around to face him again.

"Yeah?"

"I've been at where you are now," the sergeant said with a more softened tone, "I know what it feels like. If you want…we can talk about this later. After this nightmare ends. If not, you could try the same with your guardian, Doherty, as well."

Sonic looked away silently for a few seconds. "I'll keep your offer in mind," he replied unenthusiastically before breaking into a dash, finally getting away from this horrible mess...and perhaps, he suspected cynically, into another.

* * *

><p>"Goddammit, lost another one!" Robotnik said with a hiss as he slammed the control console with his free hand. His second jet had just been shot down, but not before doing the same to no less than eight more enemy planes. Unfortunately for him, the Tornado was not among them, and Tails likely was smart enough to have stayed far away from the X-1 as it exploded.<p>

This, on top of the news delivered by a hysterical subordinate next to him that not only did Sonic and Knuckles somehow not fall for his trap in Llemo, but that all ARA forces there had been completely wiped out, was not doing wonders for his mood. "How…did they know…to come here…in the first place!" he growled, waving a fist in the air.

He then flipped a few switches, activating the last two he had in the hangar, which he had to rearm himself earlier while temporarily setting the control console on automatic. He was sure he still had the chance to turn it around. Three X-1s was definitely sufficient to down the entire carrier's flight squadrons. But there was still the matter of that damn fox…

"_Señor_, we have to go!" the same man who had given him the bad news earlier said, still in a state of panic, "they must be coming here now!"

"Tell me something I don't know!"

The sweating man looked bewildered for a moment before replying, "the jeeps are ready to go outside! Please hurry!"

The thrusters of the two X-1s in the hangar started roaring loudly, signaling their readiness. The plane's weapons had just been reloaded by the guerrillas, who knew how to do so thanks to the mad scientist's demonstrations in the caves. Robotnik pushed the thrust lever forwards, causing them to rush forwards before taking to the air, ready to have them join their only remaining brethren still handling the aerial and naval threat, when the question he asked himself earlier repeated itself in his mind. _How did they know to come here?_ It was certainly worth pondering, and that's what he found himself doing now. That was when a clue struck him.

Robotnik turned his head to look at the cell phone still placed next to the comm radio nearby. He remembered being told by an angry, ranting Guerrez about how the ARA team in LA that was meant to spy on Robert Mayes had been discovered and gunned down by the FBI.

He also remembered the last conversation he had had with the CEO, which had occurred shortly the activities at his warehouse had been exposed. In it, the mad scientist had threatened Mayes to continue his silence on his complicity despite the authorities already getting a clue about it, or suffer the same punishment. A punishment that he could no longer carry out…or could he?

At that moment, a light bulb lit up in his head. The newest idea he had was probably the most brilliant one he had come up with so far - so brilliant, in fact, that it made him break into a smile. _This is the perfect chance!_

"One second," he said as he adjusted the joystick and tapped a few buttons. Now, instead of sending these two X-1s to attack the carrier fleet and its aircraft, which would likely be futile considering the assistance they were getting from the Tornado, he was going to send them somewhere else completely. Other than enforcing Mayes' long overdue punishment, there was also a bonus to doing so: if he couldn't harm Sonic, Tails or Knuckles, he could still harm those who took care of him. Those he cared for. "Let's see how you guys go home after this!" he said with a nasty chuckle.

After pressing the last few buttons, Robotnik got up from his seat. "Give me your gun," he told the man, "do it!"

The guerrilla nervously handed over his AK-47, not knowing what the fat scientist planned to do with it. Robotnik grabbed the weapon, pulled the charging handle once, and fired away at the control consoles, smashing their screens entirely and causing sparks to fly. No way could anyone get information off these things now. The now airborne X-1s would no longer require them, as he had programmed them to crash and self-destruct near their targets after destroying them, likely killing even more people with their Chaos explosions, and cause Sonic and the others more angst. _Besides, it serves the US Navy right for interfering with my plans!_

"Alright, let's move!" he said after giving the rifle back to the man, who quickly turned around to run out of the hangar to the waiting vehicles. Above them in the distance, the two planes continued to fly northeast into the dark sky at Mach 1.5, with nobody besides Robotnik knowing exactly what they were about to do.

* * *

><p>"I'm hit!" a pilot exclaimed, "gotta bail!"<p>

The man ejected out of his F/A-18E Super Hornet, which had just been struck by one of the X-1's missiles, as it spiraled downwards with a huge trail of smoke and fire. Unlike the others that had been shot down, however, it was not heading towards the water. Instead, it was about to crash straight onto the deck of the _Lincoln_.

"Oh shit," Shadow One said in horror, "Blaze Two-Five is gonna hit the carrier!"

The fighter jet ended up smashing nose-first against the steel surface at slightly less than the speed of sound, bursting into flames as it tumbled and spun across the deck, colliding with two other parked Hornets in the process. By the time the twisted remains of the plane came to a stop, it had left a dark, thirty-meter long scorch mark behind it.

"Damn it," Tails couldn't help but say as he saw the ugly display, "anyone hurt down there?"

"Not sure yet, but that's gonna to be hell to clean up!"

"Hey, where'd the X-1 go?" the fox asked next as he noticed it wasn't anywhere in sight anymore. "Damn it, I got distracted!"

"At your eight o'clock!" Shadow One replied urgently, "firing chain gun…yes! Yes! I think I got him!" he said, sounding triumphant for the first time.

Tails turned to face the aforementioned direction, and saw the X-1 already catching fire. His eyes grew wide, however, at the distance, or lack thereof, between it and the Tornado. "Wait, I'm not far away enough!" he said in alarm as he tried to maneuver the plane away.

"What the…?" the other pilot said in confusion before realizing how close the enemy plane was to Tails. "Oh shit, get outta there!"

"I-" Tails was interrupted by the huge explosion that occurred just forty meters away from him. He was violently jerked around as the Tornado shook hard, and for the first time, he heard his plane's emergency beeping signals come to life. The diagnostics screen on the dashboard was warning him about damage to the airframe and left wing, though fortunately not to the engines.

Nevertheless the plane was getting harder to control, as he found out while handling the levers. VTOL was definitely out of the question. "I won't be able to fly much longer!" he shouted, "and I can't land on the _Lincoln_ now! I'm gonna touch down somewhere else!"

"Alright! I'll have to keep circling here till they get that mess cleaned up. Good luck!"

"Okay, hope you can land too, bye!" The fox began flying the Tornado over land, trying to fly in a straight line, but it was proving rather difficult. The whole aircraft could shake apart at any moment, and he did not want the Chaos energy source to crash into anything.

Instinctively, he reached for his earpiece and adjusted it to contact the only person he always turned to for help, even though he was so far away right now. "Sonic? Sonic, you there?" he asked nervously.

"Tails?" Sonic replied as the entrance to Adabat's eastern military base came into view, noticing something off about the fox's tone, "what's wrong?"

"The Tornado's damaged, and I gotta land it somewhere or I'll crash, and I can't make it hover anymore!" Tails explained quickly, getting more tense with every word, "any chance you know where I can do that? Please?"

"What?" Sonic answered with a surprised rise in volume, "hold on, uh…" The hedgehog glanced forwards as Knuckles looked at him curiously, "me and Knux are actually at the eastern military base right now, the one the ARA took over. We're about to take it back, though, maybe you could come here?" he suggested.

"That's great!" Tails said, sounding more relieved, "is it clear? I'm coming in soon!"

"Give us a moment," Sonic said before motioning to Knuckles to come along. Both of them then rushed straight towards the entrance and through it, expecting heavy resistance.

To their surprise, however, there weren't any ARA forces here at all. As far as they could see, the place was deserted, likely recently, completely devoid of all signs of life. They ran around the main building to get to the aircraft runways behind it, and sure enough, there wasn't anything there either, barring a few unoccupied fighter jets, both outside and inside the hangars. "Actually, yeah, there's nobody here! Come on in, bud!"

"Okay, it's in my sight!" Tails said, surprised that he had covered the distance so quickly despite having slowed down. "I'm coming in from the west!"

Sonic and Knuckles looked up into the air to see the familiar shape of an aircraft and its lights coming closer to them. "Right, I see you too!"

"Get out of the way, it could be rough!"

"Right!" The duo quickly cleared the runway as they continued staring at the incoming plane. As it came closer, they could see that the Tornado was clearly damaged, emitting smoke, though not fire, from its scarred body.

"Here goes nothing!" Tails announced as he begin the CTOL landing sequence. Slowly pulling the thrust lever back, he pressed a switch to deploy the landing gear. The wheels came out underneath, and the fox momentarily felt his heartbeat rate rise even more as the Tornado jerked around hard while trying to slow down.

When the plane finally skidded to a stop near one of the hangars, the fox let out the breath he'd been holding, sighing in relief and panting loudly. He took off all of his headgear except for the earpiece, pressed a button to open up the canopy, and leaped out onto the ground.

He turned backwards to survey the damage the Tornado had sustained. The left wing was full of dents and holes, as was most of the airframe's left side. Some panels had fallen off as well. Tails sighed. It wasn't impossible to repair, but he had no idea how was he going to get the spare parts to do so.

Sonic and Knuckles came up to his side. "Tails, you okay?" the hedgehog asked, sounding both worried and relieved.

Tails nodded. "Y-yeah," he said quietly, "can't say the same about the Tornado though," he added with a frown. "What about you guys?"

"Um…" Sonic looked away briefly before answering. The unpleasant memory of what he saw in the village of Llemo was rushing back to him, though he managed to block it out for now. "We're managing."

"You look pretty worn out."

"All of us are," Knuckles said, "but we should be able to keep going from here."

"Right," Sonic agreed with a nod, "but I guess the Tornado's gonna be grounded for a while, huh?"

"Pretty much," the fox said as he turned around, looking into the empty lit-up hangar glumly. He was about to turn back before he noticed that it wasn't really empty. "Hey, check that out," he said, pointing at the two machine consoles against the hangar wall. "Why are those things smashed up?"

"Hmm…" Sonic noticed they actually looked quite familiar. "Let's take a closer look."

"Yeah."

They took a few steps towards the machines before the hedgehog blinked in surprise. "Wait, I've seen these things before, inside the caves. I think they're the computers that control the X-1s."

"Yeah, they look like the pictures I saw on the internet too. What are they doing here?" Tails said as he walked right up to them, "looks like they got shot up. And their power's still on, too."

"Hey, there's a cell phone over there," Sonic pointed out, gesturing to the device on the table.

"Weird…alright, let me see what I can get out of this, you check that phone. I think both must have been used very recently."

"Got it," Sonic answered before taking the phone up, ready to check its contents.

"Hmm…" Tails went behind the machine to see what he could find there. "Bunch of wires…hey, one of them's labeled as an emergency outlet. And it looks like it could fit into my WRID," he said, checking the aforementioned device on his wrist, "yeah. I could see what it's supposed to be showing on the screen now." He grabbed the small cable head with a gloved hand to insert it into one of the input jacks his WRID had, causing the small screen to display the information the console was supposed to.

Sonic continued to scroll through the phone's name list, none of which he recognized, until…"wait a minute, Robert Mayes?"

"Who's that?" Knuckles asked.

"The CEO of the company who made these consoles and the planes linked to them. Whoever used this phone had called him a lot of times."

"That's strange," Tails commented, "I mean-" he stopped abruptly as he understood what he was looking at on his WRID, which froze him completely. "Oh no…"

"Tails, what is it? What'd you see?" Sonic asked, though he was already had the sinking feeling the answer was going to be something pretty bad.

And it was. "Sonic," Tails said with a level of fear even he seldom had, "according to the console, there are two X-1s in the air right now…and they're both headed towards Los Angeles."


	12. Chapter 11: Discoveries

**Author's Note: Many thanks to Stainless Steel Fox for letting me use an idea of his in this chapter! And likely the next one too!**

**Chapter 11: Discoveries**

The mobian trio stood in the hangar staring at each other, completely frozen. "Oh, man," Sonic muttered in dread, "so you're saying that…that…"

"That those planes will turn LA into another Adabat City," Tails simply said, completing what the hedgehog couldn't. He took a quick but pained glance at the damaged Tornado outside. "Of all the times when this could happen…" the fox added, worry mixed in with clear annoyance in his voice.

"Pretty sure there's only one guy who could have done this," Knuckles grumpily said with his arms crossed.

"You bet. He was right here all along. Looks like we missed him by just five minutes or something. That's just brilliant," Sonic said wearily with a shake of the head, "Jeez, Eggy…why?"

That was when Knuckles then remembered something. "Wait up. When I first met Tails at that embassy, didn't Alan say over the phone about how his team had rescued some CEO? Is it that guy?"

"Exactly!" Tails replied loudly, having just realized the answer to Sonic's question. "I got it! Robotnik still wants to kill Mayes and his family for letting his secret out. And worse…" He lowered his volume almost to that of a whisper, "if they're still in the FBI building…"

"Then Alan'll die too!" Sonic blurted out in shock.

"And way, way more than just them," the fox added worriedly as he unplugged the cable from his WRID and began accessing its phonebook again, "I really hope it works now…"

No such luck. He ended up receiving a Spanish recorded message about the service being temporarily unavailable, just like after his first attempted call in the city. A frown began to cloud Tails' face. "Oh, screw this."

"What about this cell phone?" Sonic offered, holding the device up in his hand, "let me try it."

"They're both going to have to go through the same downed cell site, Sonic," Tails responded glumly.

"What? Ah, damn…" The hedgehog placed a palm on his forehead. "Then…couldn't they detect the planes coming and take them down before they could do anything?"

"Impossible," the fox replied straight, "it's just like when I flew the Tornado over the US when we first arrived – I was invisible. And I just got off a huge dogfight with the X-1s. Trust me, nobody will see those things until it's too late," he added hurriedly, "if we could call, at least we would be able to warn them…"

"What about the aircraft carrier?" Sonic suggested, "couldn't they go after them?"

Another shake of the head. "One of the planes crashed onto the deck and made a huge mess. By the time they've cleaned up, the X-1s could be too far away already. Besides, their Hornets have limited fuel and range."

"Oh, come on!" Sonic said very loudly while throwing his hands up in the air. How could every single solution just practically vanish before their eyes like that? "There…there has to be something we can do!"

Feeling desperate, Tails glanced outside of the hangar again, although not at the Tornado this time, but everywhere. Anything that could help.

Fortunately, it didn't take long, as he saw something that made him feel rather stupid. "Wait a minute…this is an airfield! Over there!" The fox quickly spun his twin namesakes behind him and zoomed out onto the open runways. Curious about what he'd found, Sonic and Knuckles followed him out there.

And there it was. The answer was so obviously before them that they couldn't believe they hadn't noticed it sooner. The F-16 was sitting at the end of a runway, and, rather fittingly for the moment, it somehow looked like it was under a dramatic glow of heavenly light.

_Oh wait_, Sonic thought, feeling silly, _that's just the sun rising. Wow, has so much time really passed?_

Tails stopped right next to the plane for some very quick inspections. "Okay, six AMRAAMs, two fuel tanks, open cockpit, and it's even facing northeast. Should be able to do what the F-18s can't," he said, sounding more hopeful, though not relieved yet. "We're just lucky Robotnik didn't sabotage this plane or something. Maybe he had no time."

"You can fly this thing?" Knuckles asked before Sonic could.

"Yeah. Got to mess around with some at Edwards. I know how it works."

"So you think it can take on the X-1s?" Sonic asked.

The question caused the fox to pause for a moment. "I...well, the X-1s were tough enough to deal with even with the Tornado," he admitted with his ears folding down. Then he looked back at Sonic, "but it's all we got now, I have to make the best of it. And I swear, Sonic, that's exactly what I'll do. No more people will die."

Despite the seriousness of the situation and the dangers that could still happen, after hearing Tails' declarations, Sonic couldn't help but feel a certain amount of pride for his friend and his determination. "Glad to hear it, bud," he said warmly, "you can do it! Good luck!"

A nod. "Thanks. Anyway…" Tails flew up to the open canopy, ready to jump in when he remembered something. "Wait, I gotta get something from the Tornado!" he said, and before Sonic or Knuckles could ask, he was already flying off to the damaged plane.

Thirty seconds later he came back with flight goggles and oxygen mask in his hand. "Mobians can't wear human oxygen masks or helmets," he explained as he stopped spinning his tails and climbed into the cockpit, "I gotta install the mask before I can take off."

"Oh, yeah, right," Sonic said, remembering this small but important detail.

"Look, I don't want to hold you guys here any longer," Tails said while detaching the standard oxygen mask, "go out there and find Robotnik. Don't worry about me."

"Yeah, we better not waste time," Knuckles agreed, "good luck to you."

"You guys too," the fox replied as he began putting on his own mask on the tube, "better get going."

"One more thing!" Sonic said before tossing the cell phone in his hand up to Tails, who caught it and then looked down at Sonic curiously. "There're recordings of the conversations with Mayes on that phone," the hedgehog explained, "maybe once you're done you could give it to Alan or something. Could be useful."

"Okay, thanks!" Meanwhile, he had just finished attaching his oxygen mask properly to the plane's circulation system. "Anyway, it's ready now. See you later, guys!"

"Alright! Go get 'em!" It was the last thing Tails heard Sonic say before he started up the plane's single engine and closed the canopy. Fitting the cell phone into one of the pockets his tails had in their fur and putting on the goggles, the fox gave one last A-OK gesture to the other two, which Sonic returned, before engaging the thruster, and the jet began accelerating.

As the plane cleared half the runway, another familiar engine sound could be heard, coming from behind. Sonic and Knuckles turned around to see Rojas' convoy drive up to them a second time, though the driving was noticeably more rushed.

The vehicles stopped nearby with the tires screeching loudly against the tarmac, and out from the leading Humvee came Sergeant Rojas. "Sonic!" the man called out loudly, sounding irritated, "what just happened here? Why didn't you update us on the airfield's status? We had to fly the UAV over to see it was clear now."

"Hey, woah, sorry I didn't tell you about it just now," Sonic said with his palms raised and facing forwards, "it's just that there's a whole lot we learned here. Took us by surprise."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We found out Robotnik was definitely here just now, but he'd fled before we came. That hangar over there," Sonic said as he pointed at where he, Tails, and Knuckles were earlier, "you can find some X-1 control consoles inside, but Eggman's already shot them up."

Rojas gestured to his men to go check out the building before looking at Sonic again. "Why would he do that?"

"To make sure nobody knew what he's doing with the last two X-1s. But Tails managed to extract info out of it anyway, don't ask me how, after landing here because the Tornado got damaged fighting the others. He found out that they're flying towards Los Angeles and are gonna bomb the hell out of it."

"_Dos mio_," Rojas replied in surprise, "so that's why the kid took the F-16?"

"Yeah," Sonic said as he looked back at the jet, which was already flying off into the sunrise, "I really hope he can take them down. Anyway, what's the plan now? Where do we go?"

In response, the sergeant simply turned around to face the mountain in the distance, his gaze made of steel. "North."

* * *

><p>"Are the anti-air units in place?" Robotnik asked the men beside him as he walked down the tunnel, having just arrived at the entrance a few minutes ago.<p>

"Yes, sir. They are manning the Stinger systems at where you asked, next to the autobuggies." One of the supplies Robotnik made sure to take from the airfield shortly after capturing it yesterday were the FIM-92 Stinger anti-air missile launchers, and had asked the guerrillas to man them at various sites around the mountain.

Combined with the ones used by his remaining autobuggies, not to mention their radars, and he'd formed an impenetrable air defense shield. Not even the Tornado would be able to deflect so many missiles at once, if that plane was even still flying. The last thing he'd done on the control consoles before destroying them was to set the last X-1 to fly straight into Tails' plane, or get as close as possible, and then self-destruct. Even if they had managed to prevent the collision, the explosion would still have been very damaging.

Still, he thought with a frown, he shouldn't have forgotten about that cell phone back in the airfield in his excitement over his new plan earlier. It would have been a good idea too to perform a last-minute sabotage on those F-16s, but there had been no time. No matter. Even if his plot to airstrike LA were discovered, the dogfight earlier had showed that these outdated planes wouldn't be able to touch the X-1s. Nor break through the air defenses set up here.

The Army he wasn't too worried about either, given the highly uneven terrain here, which had provided the ARA with the ability to defend against them effectively for years. That meant there was only one major threat left. "So, _senor_, what about Sonic and that red _hombre_?" Captain Gonzalez asked.

"They'll definitely try and charge straight towards the entrance, to do what the Army cannot. If the mines and claymores don't make it go all wrong for them, your fortifications should. And if that still doesn't work, well…" he glanced up at the tunnel's ceiling, whose rocky surface was filled with explosive charges, visible when one looked closely enough.

"I understand. I have the detonator with me," the captain replied, "looks like you've got everything covered," the man remarked, nodding in approval, "unlike Guerrez."

"Oh, of course," Robotnik replied with a grin, without even trying to sound humble, "he's still in holding, right?"

"Yes. We'll deal with him after this is done."

The mad scientist responded with a nod and continued walking, grin unceasing. Privately, he actually found their admiration for him both commendable and sad. If Sonic and Knuckles managed to force their way in here, and it was still possible that they could do so, he had no intention of going down side-by-side with these people like they seemed to think he would. _After all, that minisub isn't down there for seeing coral reefs._

Reaching a familiar wooden door, Robotnik turned the knob and entered the command center where Guerrez had been forced out of earlier. He was glad that the only person that possibly knew about his escape plan was now locked up in a cell with no way to interfere with it. At least, that's what he thought.

* * *

><p>"Should be getting close now, just keep following the tire tracks," Sonic said as he dashed ahead on the dirt path while glancing downwards at said tracks every few seconds, which they discovered earlier, starting from the military base's northern entrance.<p>

"Hopefully," Knuckles said, "Adabat's not as small as it seems at first glance. Angel Island was flying pretty high up before I lowered it, so I managed to get a good look," he added as an explanation.

After several minutes of traveling on flat ground, the path was noticeably becoming more and more inclined upwards. No surprise – the mountain was already looming before them. And this time, Sonic was determined to thoroughly search the entire ARA base hidden in it to make sure he missed absolutely nothing.

They finally began going up a steep hill, and Sonic decided to speed up to cancel out the effect gravity had on him, although not so fast that Knuckles couldn't catch up. He was still following the vehicle tracks when Knuckles noticed something just in time. "Sonic, jump!" he shouted, alarmed.

Surprised at the sudden outburst, the hedgehog did what he was told and leapt several feet into the air, while simultaneously looking downwards to see what the echidna had seen. There was what seemed like a flat and slightly curved wide object placed upright, with the convex side facing the direction from which the two were coming from.

Suddenly getting an idea of what it could be, the instant his feet touched the ground, Sonic jumped to the side rather than continuing to zoom forwards, sliding to a stop in the grass on both sides of the road. Knuckles himself did the same on the other side, and both turned to look more closely at the dirt path now.

As it turned out, there were even more of the same objects placed along the path, with the vehicle tracks narrowly going around or between them. "I know what those are," Sonic spoke up, sounding rather relieved, "claymore mines. Alan told me about them, they're like landmines, but they explode forwards rather than up."

"Huh, I didn't know that," Knuckles admitted, "I just thought it looked suspicious. So if I hadn't noticed, you would have been shredded?"

"Eh…pretty much," the hedgehog said sheepishly.

The echidna shrugged. "Told you slowing down once in a while's a good thing," he couldn't help but add.

"Alright, alright, I get it, I owe ya, thanks," Sonic quickly replied, "now just hoping they didn't put any in the grass."

Fortunately, as they continued dashing through the grass, they discovered that there weren't. Soon, however, they spotted the ARA forces that were dug in up above, groups of men amongst machine gun placements and autobuggies that also noticed the rapid swaying movements of the grass at the same time.

The shooting began almost immediately, and both Sonic and Knuckles swerved further away from the road to avoid all incoming shots, rockets and missiles. They had the same idea in mind – the autobuggies at the front-most part of their defenses had to go first.

They swerved back in the same direction, with Sonic jumping up and spindashing the turrets off like in Llemo. Knuckles, however, decided to try something different. Running towards the vehicle from the left side, he inserted one fist underneath the large tires before and lifted them, exposing the underside, which he then slid under before using both hands to press upwards.

Soon, he was carrying the entire autobuggy over his head. With a loud grunt, he promptly threw it towards the gun placements that had only just spotted the mobians again. But it was too late for them as the large military vehicle flew in and crushed them utterly. The autobuggy collided with the ground with a metallic crash and tumbled over the men's positions sideways, like a giant rolling pin. There were surprised cries of shock and pain, but they were quickly muted.

Sonic had stood back upright after spindashing another autobuggy's tires with his quills just in time to observe the spectacle, and he had to admit it was rather impressive despite how violent it was. He did not comment on that, however, as he'd also just noticed something else more important.

The hill had evened out now, and ahead of them was a large flat patch of land at the foot of the mountain, filled to the brim with even more ARA forces out to get them now. Despite their numbers and the chaos, the hedgehog could still what lay behind them, their ultimate objective – the cave entrance. This one, he estimated quickly, seemed to have the width and height of a regular car tunnel.

More shots were being fired their way, causing them to get down into the grass again, but together this time. "Knux," Sonic called out hurriedly, "I see the cave entrance, I gotta get in there now!"

"Yeah, because there are clearly no bad guys in front shooting at us," the echidna responded in disbelief as more bullets and rockets flew over them.

"No, that's the thing, if we take them out first, the last guy standing will blow up the entrance with bombs. I sorta saw it happen two nights ago," Sonic explained rapidly, remembering what Rojas said about how the ARA handled cave entrance security.

A second, as well as another rocket, passed before Knuckles nodded, understanding. "Right…I think I know what you're planning." He shot a quick peek at the ARA forces before continuing, "leave them to me. I'll distract them, you rush in at full speed, alright?"

"Really?"

"Yes," Knuckles said, stressing his answer as they heard the sound of an approaching jeep, "I'll find another way in once I take care of these clowns. Now move!"

"Right, thanks a lot!" Sonic said before finally acting. He started by dashing back down the hill rather than continuing on. He needed all the run-up he could get. Meanwhile, the truck that was just about to head down the slope was suddenly flipped over backwards by Knuckles, who happened to be in its way.

The echidna jumped out of the grass after the vehicle crashed onto the ground upside down, revealing himself in full and speeding around the guerrillas and remaining autobuggies, whose shots had as much luck trying to hit him as they did Sonic. "Right here!" he shouted loudly, "come on!"

Already displeased at how their shots kept missing, the guerrillas seemed to become even more enraged by his taunts, with some of them shouting profanities and firing their weapons more wildly at him. All of their focus was now on the echidna and not the hedgehog, apparently operating under an 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality. Good.

There was the sudden crack of a sonic boom, and the next thing the guerrillas knew, a blue streak shot past right through their entire defense grid, utterly stunning them. Knuckles used the opportunity to grab a large crate and toss it right at them, with predictable results.

What was less predictable was that one of the men, namely, Gonzalez, was still alert enough to press the button on his detonator just as he watched the blue blur rush inside. He had no way to know if he'd done it in time, however, before another flying box came and hit him straight on the head, knocking him out cold. The last thing he heard, besides the explosion, was the echidna shouting Sonic's name out in alarm.

* * *

><p>"What the hell?" the guard said in surprise as he turned the keys to open the cell door in order to reach their only prisoner. "Ramon, get here now!" he called out, "something's wrong with him!"<p>

Alejandro Guerrez was lying on the smooth, rocky floor, eyes closed, body trembling and foaming at the mouth. The man had only gotten sick before once, but that was a year ago, and had quickly recovered. What could he have caught this time? The two guards were hardly doctors. "Let's just take him to the medical bay," Ramon suggested, as it wasn't that far away, "help me get him up."

They brought the former leader up to a standing position, placing each of his arms around their shoulders to carry him on both sides. Which was just what he expected.

Guerrez's eyes opened slowly, and after sensing that nobody else was nearby, he decided to act. He planted his feet on the ground and grabbed each of the skinny guards' heads with his hands, before fiercely knocking them against each other, incapacitating them.

His next move was to take the combat knife the guard on the right had in his sheath, which he first used to stab its owner right at the jugular while covering his mouth with the other hand, before immediately pulling it out of his neck and doing the same with the other guard.

"And you call me stupid," Guerrez muttered in contempt and satisfaction as he watched the two young men bleed to death, before kneeling down to take their pistols and ammo. Once he had fitted the weapons and their holsters around his belt, he turned around to run elsewhere. With any luck, he thought, he should be able to take advantage of the size of this underground network of tunnels to reach his intended destination without being spotted.

* * *

><p>"Can you see him?" the guerrilla asked, scanning the dead end that had just been formed by the tunnel's collapse with a flashlight.<p>

"No sign of him. Must have been flattened," another who was doing the same thing nearby replied.

"Well," Robotnik replied gleefully after hearing the report over the radio, "I guess that's it for the rodent then. Hmm…" He raised an eyebrow. For some reason, he was finding himself unsure of how to celebrate the hedgehog's unceremonious death. Maybe it was because of how sudden it was. And there was still the matter of Knuckles and Tails, wherever that fox was. "Ah, you know what? We'll cheer about it later. Gonzalez, how's the situation outside?" he asked into another radio, sounding business-like again.

There was no response. "Gonzalez, come in!" he said again, but all that followed was silence. After fifteen seconds of it, he growled with a frown. He really wished he had some of the portable security cameras that his flying fortress had, just so he could have installed one outside to see what was happening there. "Alright, it looks like Knuckles has wiped out the front defense grid," he said into the other radios, "Chavez and Quinteros, stay where you are. If he tries to dig through, just shoot him. And keep watch on the other entrances just in case he discovers and tries to use them."

The mad scientist placed his elbows on the desk with the radios before him and interlocked his fingers. He was about to ponder what the implications of Sonic's death was when the door was suddenly barged open. "_Senor_, we have a problem!" the panicking guard said frantically.

"What is it?" he said, disliking interruptions as usual.

"Rojas is gone. He's killed the two guards outside and has escaped from his cell."

"What?" Robotnik stood up so fast he almost caused the chair to fall over. "Find him! Who's the closest to the cell?"

"Chavez and Quinteros, sir."

Another frown. "Hmm…alright, I find others to replace them. Get whoever else you can. Make sure to bring him in alive, and don't let him out of here!"

"Yes, sir!" The man then ran off to call for assistance.

"Chavez, Quinteros, come in!"

"Yes, sir?" the two guards at the dead end replied at once.

"Guerrez has escaped from his cell, and you're the closest ones to it. Go and see where he could have gone now."

"Right away!" the men instantly answered after hearing the unexpected news and quickly ran off.

Behind the leaving guards at the left corner of the dead end, a bunch of rocks then came loose. Gloved fingers weakly stuck out from beneath and pushed more of the rocks aside. Confident that the guards were far away enough, Sonic the Hedgehog finally rose from the rubble and stood up wobbly. He looked downwards at his body, amazed that he wasn't hurt at all, though he was feeling rather spooked at how another tunnel damn near crushed him again.

For once, Sonic didn't feel like making any witty remarks, especially when there wasn't anyone else around to hear them. After dusting his torso and sighing quietly in relief, he started to follow the two guards who had just run off while keeping his own speed down, curious about where they were headed.

* * *

><p>"Wait a minute," Robotnik muttered to no one else in the room, having just realized something. <em>Guerrez is not trying to escape<em>, he thought, _at least, not through the cave entrances!_ He now had an idea where the former leader could be headed to, and if he were there already, it was imperative none of the guards reached it before Robotnik himself, lest that guy found a way to reveal the minisub whose existence was known only to those two men in the mountain base, or tell the others something about it to make them doubt their new leader. Anything was possible.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have let that busybody know about it," he said silently in irritation. The mad scientist had indeed planned for the minisub to be a secret, but the damn _pendejo_ had just kept poking around and looking through the contents of his hardware package when it was first brought to the shores from the bottom of the ocean, and eventually discovered it. Of course, at the time, Guerrez was still thinking that Robotnik was his BFF, and hadn't said much about it beyond expressing mild curiosity. Now, though, the man definitely knew what the machine really was for.

_I better act now._ Robotnik strutted over to the radios and began giving out new orders to buy himself some time. "This is Robotnik," he announced calmly, "Martinez, Gutierrez, Esperanza, I want your teams to search Sectors A, B and C respectively, right away." That left Sector D, the only remaining one, which was much smaller than the others and also where the minisub and some other important material were located, all to himself.

"Understood, sir," the first reply came, with the other two being very similar. Good.

Then another radio. "Chavez, Quinteros, come in."

"Yes, sir?"

"I want you both to head to junction A13. I'm coming meet you there personally."

"Sir, is that a good idea? You could run into Guerrez halfway."

"I decide what's a good idea, alright?" Robotnik snapped in response, "just be there. Robotnik out," he finished before striding out of the room, not forgetting to take the pistol on the table right next to the door.

* * *

><p>The two guards appeared to have received some new orders over their radios, and once the transmission was over, they started running even faster and more frantically. Of course, both sides were speaking in Spanish, so Sonic had no idea what had been said, but it was clearly important.<p>

Not to mention that the male voice on the other end of their radios, although unclear and scratchy, sounded unsettlingly familiar.

The hedgehog continued to trail the two guards, keeping a good distance behind and making sure there was always some corner or box nearby that he could use to hide himself in case they turned around, or if some other guards appeared.

Several minutes of following passed, and Sonic managed to narrowly avoid being spotted by a few other patroling guerrillas a few times. After turning at numerous junctions and traveling under more increasingly narrow and barely lit tunnels, it was starting to occur to him just how elaborate this whole underground complex was. How did they build this place?

He also had the opportunity to check out what kind of rooms the ARA had here as he kept going, since many of them had no doors. Most of them appeared to be sleeping quarters, which were completely empty, the others being weapon storages or armories, where a number of men were busy looking over the guns, grenades, rocket launchers and who knew what else they had. Another big storage room was packed with several advanced tools and parts likely used for the X-1 jet planes, such as wrenches, welding tools, cylindrical tanks that were labelled LN2, and others. He even passed by a chamber that appeared to store large numbers of packets filled with white powder.

The most interesting room he saw on the way, however, was what seemed to be a private bedroom of sorts, which actually made Sonic stop briefly to look inside. The door was open, and there were two beds inside, but what caught his attention was the large family photo that was hanging on the wall between the beds. It seemed to be quite old, possibly many years already, and it showed a slightly aged couple standing behind two teenage boys sitting down, all smiling. The black scribbled on the wall below the photo read _La Familia Guerrez_.

_The Guerrezes?_ The discovery really caught Sonic off-guard, not having expected to run into something like this at all. He almost stood there staring for a longer time before sternly reminding himself of what he had to do. Still, he thought it was important to be reminded as well that at least some of these people actually had families too.

The guards fortunately had not run off that far, and the hedgehog was able to catch up fairly easily. Nevertheless, he was starting to wonder if it was even worth following them. When were they going to reach their destination?

He had no idea how much time passed, though he estimated it was at least twenty minutes since he started trailing them, perhaps a little longer, before the men abruptly stopped and stood at a junction for no clear reason. Sonic quickly took cover in a dark niche in the tunnel wall before peeking in their direction to see what they were waiting for.

Another minute later, around the corner where the men stood, another figure finally stepped into view from the opposite tunnel – an incredibly fat and familiar one. Before he even saw the man's face, Sonic already guessed who it was, and it almost made him recoil in shock. _Robotnik!_

The mad scientist that Sonic hadn't seen in half a year pointed into the third tunnel, and the guards nodded in response before going in, with Robotnik joining them. He really was calling the shots here after all, though the hedgehog doubted he'd ever find out when he started.

Making sure that they had already gone in several meters first, Sonic began moving out again, now burning with more curiosity than ever about what Robotnik was up to.

* * *

><p>"You believe he's here?" Quinteros asked their boss.<p>

"Yes. Stay alert," Robotnik ordered as he and the two men cautiously walked into the cave, pistols already raised. Other than their footsteps, the only sound that could be heard was that of water slowly dripping from the ceiling into the large pond nearby, in which the minisub would appear should the mad scientist decide to summon it from its hidden position out in the ocean, which was connected to this place via a sizable underwater tunnel.

They were about to enter one of the two storage rooms available here, both of which were opposite the pond across the granite floor, hoping that Guerrez hadn't messed with anything inside. As they approached the doorway, Robotnik could hear a quiet, but still audible, disturbance in the water behind them.

* * *

><p>Sonic was roughly a quarter of the way through the tunnel when he suddenly heard a loud noise echoing throughout the enclosed space, startling him. A gunshot. It was immediately followed up by another. He quickly moved up to the bend and peeked around to observe the latest twist happening in the cave up front. What was going on?<p>

* * *

><p>Disoriented by the reverberating noise, the mad scientist glanced to his sides to see Chavez and Quinteros collapsing lifelessly onto the ground. "Don't turn around," a familiar accented male voice said threateningly in English, "or I'll shoot you too. Drop your gun and kick it behind you. Now."<p>

Furiously gritting his teeth at not expecting this trick, Robotnik could only comply, slowly laying his pistol on the floor and kicking it towards the water. "Alright," Guerrez continued, "now only do you turn around."

The mad scientist moved to face the former leader climbing out of the water, still aiming a smoking pistol at him with one hand. "You do know there are others out there who heard this, right?" Robotnik asked with a raised eyebrow, as if it were somehow not obvious, not realizing that one of them was a certain blue hedgehog.

"Of course," Guerrez replied nonchalantly as he stood back up, sounding calm and undeterred, before pulling out from his pocket with his other hand what seemed like a remote detonator, "which is why I brought this."

* * *

><p>Seeing the tense situation unfold before him, Sonic was about to rev up to intervene when he saw the man opposite Robotnik pressing a button on some remote device. Before he could move, he heard short beeping tones coming from the tunnel ceiling, both in front and behind him. Instantly, he knew what this meant. <em>Oh crap.<em>

The first explosions tore apart and sealed off the route before him, obscuring the two men from his sight. Sonic tried running back the other way, only to be blocked by even more blasts and crumbling rocks. The hedgehog realized that in both directions, each new explosion that followed the previous one was closer and closer to him. _No, no, no no NO!_

The last thing Sonic could wonder about before the blasts caught up with him was why cursed things like enduring collapsing tunnels just had to happen to him in threes.

* * *

><p>Over a decade old already, the F-16C Block 52+ was still a venerable and reliable aircraft, but was ancient technology compared to something like the X-1. Regardless, its capabilities were good enough for Tails - one thing it did have was a higher top speed than the X-1s, despite their Chaos energy drives, as no matter how powerful and lasting their energy sources were, their engines would still burn out if they exceeded their design parameters. The ones powering the jets he and the Navy fought earlier didn't show any signs of being modified or upgraded by Robotnik, otherwise he would have noticed.<p>

It had already been almost forty-five minutes. The fox was completely concentrated on his forward view, both above and below, keeping a lookout for any sign of the UAVs. They were unlikely to appear on the F-16's radar, so he had to do it by eyeball. To his approximate two o'clock, the faintest glimpse of the rising sun could be seen. He wasn't worried about the sunlight getting in the way, though, as his goggles had the ability to block it out.

There wasn't anything ahead of him against the slowly brightening sky. Not yet, anyway. Tails was sure about his math, taking into account his and the X-1s' top speeds, the lead time they had based on what the control console in the airfield said, the distance between Adabat and the US…they had to appear anytime now, allowing him to intercept them before they reached LA.

Even so, he gripped his controls tightly, trying to stay calm, as he was less sure of something else. One thing he was telling himself repeatedly was that there was zero room for error here. If he made a mistake or oversight somewhere like in the last few times he had to do something alone over the past few days…he shuddered.

His worries nagged at him enough that he decided to consider them empirically. In his previous lone adventures, from the warehouse discovery to the embassy hostage situation and finally the battle with the X-1s in the Tornado, he had been getting better overall, hadn't he? And considering how much it took to defeat those planes earlier, if the two remaining ones ended up overwhelming the F-16, would it really be his fault? Of course, it would sadly mean LA was doomed, but it would not be because of something he failed to do.

And yet…that wasn't good enough, was it? Just because he wouldn't have to blame himself if it didn't work, didn't mean he still wouldn't be incredibly upset at the aftermath.

As if in response to that, however, he suddenly remembered the vow he'd given earlier, and what Sonic had said to him. _You can do it_. Even Knuckles seemed to think so. There was no way he could go back on all of that.

Following these thoughts, he adjusted his grip around the controls. It was still tight, but less out of nervousness or fear and more out of renewed determination. He felt readier than ever.

The fox was brought back to reality as he noticed two black dots in the distance, noticeable against the blue background. Pulse racing, he quickly reached a hand up to his goggles to activate the zoom function. Then he finally saw it, the clear rear profile of two X-1 jets, flying side-by-side.

_Let's do this_. He flicked a few switches to ready the 20mm Gatling cannon, as it was the only weapon that couldn't be diverted by the ADS those planes had. His missiles were pretty much useless here, and could only be used if there were really no other choice. The cannon was loaded with 511 rounds and could fire up to 6000 rounds per minute. Every shot had to count.

Tails did not fire yet. He waited until he got slightly nearer to the X-1s for a higher guarantee that his rounds hit their targets. What he hoped for was to be able to ambush the planes and disable them before they could react, making them fall into and blow up in the empty water below. They weren't so far apart, maybe only ten or fifteen meters. A quick sweep from left to right had to do it.

It was time. He aligned his HUD's crosshairs with the engine of the plane on the left side, turned the safety off, and, after taking a deep breath, held the trigger down.

Without warning, however, the X-1 instantly swerved leftward after the first few milliseconds of firing. Yawing right in the process, Tails only managed to get a small burst out on the other plane before it did the same in the other direction.

The next thing he knew, both jets suddenly arrested their own movements in the air and raised their noses all the way upwards, with the F-16 shooting past between them. Immediately, Tails already knew what they were doing, and his calmness quickly evaporated. There was no way he could duplicate that move in this plane. Questions were rapidly forming in his head. How did they react so fast? Did they know he was coming all along? How could they perform this maneuver without a pilot? And finally the biggest one of all: What could he do now?

A mere few seconds later, a beeping tone came online, warning him that enemy missiles were locking on to his plane. The only thing Tails could think of doing was to deploy his flares and pull hard towards the left, hoping to be able to circle around and at least catch a glimpse of the X-1s again in his sights and fire away some more.

No such luck. After completing the circle only halfway, he started hearing loud metallic sounds coming from around him. The fox turned his head to take a quick glance, and gasped as he saw large numbers of bright projectiles, bullets fired from the UAVs' own Gatling cannons, colliding with his wings, and soon the cockpit was filled with more warning tones, these ones being about the plane being damaged.

Soon after that, his wings were riddled with enough holes to make the aircraft lose control. It began spinning upside down despite him not wanting to do that, but the controls were no longer responding properly, and the warning tones were already playing at their loudest and most intense, urging the pilot to eject as soon as possible.

The moment the disintegrating plane was oriented upright again, Tails decided to bail. Frantically tearing off the oxygen mask but not his goggles, he pulled a handle to activate the ejection seat. He only had a few copies of the goggles, but the mask he could replace with multiple spares in the Tornado. Assuming, of course, that he got out of this alive.

As the fox was launched straight out of the cockpit, instantly feeling heavy pressures weighing down on from above in the process, the F-16, which had just caught on fire, continued to spiral away a few dozen meters before finally being struck by more anti-air missiles. Tails could hear and feel the explosion despite the distance, though he was otherwise unaffected, as it was fortunately much less powerful compared to the ones the X-1s gave out when destroyed.

After several more seconds, the ejection seat Tails was still strapped to stopped moving upwards as gravity got a hold of it. Unlike other pilots, however, rather than remain on it, he decided to unfasten the straps and jump off as it started to fall, followed by quickly spinning his namesakes to remain in the air. He had read stories about pilots who had parachuted into areas they simply didn't want to be such as isolated locations or enemy territory, and much preferred to make his own way to safety using his own flight power.

But now was obviously no time to do that. Hovering 10,000 feet over the ocean, the fox looked back at the direction he was flying in to see the X-1s resuming their flight path, apparently not programmed to be concerned about the fate of the pilots whose planes they targeted.

Except he had absolutely no way of keeping up with them now. Tails tried to fly towards them as fast as possible, but they were only getting further and further away. Even Sonic, he realized, would have trouble catching up with them if this were dry land unless he horribly overexerted himself.

The fox's despair grew as he watched the X-1s shrink into tiny dots against the now brighter sky, to the point where he had to take his goggles off, as tears were starting to flow from his eyes, both at what was certain to happen as well as at his own incredibly naïve expectations just now. "No!" he cried out loudly, actually sounding like a kid again, and feeling like one too, "_no!_"

* * *

><p>"What the hell do you want from me?" Robotnik asked with his hands raised, sounding more annoyed than intimidated even with the gun pointed at his face.<p>

"Simple," Guerrez replied. He clearly sounded glad to be in charge again, even if it were of just one person. "Bring your minisub that I know you have hidden out there here, or I shoot you."

"And if you do that, you'll be stuck here," the fat scientist said, not backing down, "and even if you manage to swim through the entire underwater tunnel or dig your way back out through these rocks, they'll execute you for what you've just done."

"But would you really do that?" Guerrez asked in return, pushing the weapon yet closer, "face it, you don't want to die just to spite me. You still want to rule your own personal empire, whether here or elsewhere."

A frown formed on the mad genius' face as he considered the man's words. It was true, wasn't it? He had finally become a boss again after so many months, but for only how many hours? And it wasn't exactly his own empire when he still had so many enemies alive on the same island. He had hardly regained the same level of power which he had on Mobius. There was still so much he hadn't achieved. He couldn't die before that happened.

"Just what I thought," Guerrez said with a self-satisfied smirk, before continuing, "tell you what. I'll sweeten the deal. You drive the sub, and you drop me off somewhere before you return here or wherever, and we never see each other again. We both get what we want."

"And where exactly are you going from here?" Robotnik asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your sub should have enough power to reach South America, specifically Colombia or Peru. I can meet up with my brothers in the FARC or Shining Path, and help out in _their_ revolutions. They still know what they're doing, unlike the traitorous lot the ARA has become," he explained, sounding bitter again upon mentioning the group he used to lead.

"Still addicted to revolutions, aren't you?" Robotnik commented as he shook his head. The offer did sound reasonable, at least on the surface. He had his doubts, however. The minisub wasn't really that difficult to use. Just a few minutes of observation and anyone would get the idea of how to control it, even if clumsily. Guerrez could very likely shoot and kill him during the journey to get back at him for usurping his position before taking over.

But what alternatives were there here? Best to play along for now. "Fine," he reluctantly replied, "let me get the controls in the storage room."

Robotnik walked over to the doorway with Guerrez continuing to keep his pistol and eyes on him, but stopped as he saw what was inside. This wasn't how he arranged its contents at all. "What the hell is this?" he asked, actually sounding slightly nervous.

In the center of the storage room laid several stacks of TNT and dynamite surrounding a single object. He recognized it to be the metal handheld case filled with extracted emerald energy that he had used to power the X-1s earlier before having it sent back here, the same one he had brought along when he had first ended up on the Adabatian beach that night. The electronic label on both still read 75 per cent, which was why he was unsettled. "Are you mad?" he actually said out loud, "if you detonate the bombs next to this thing, the resulting explosion would vaporize half the whole island!"

"It was what I planned to do if you didn't comply. It still is," Guerrez stated without even flinching, "if they tried to kill me, I would have made sure I wasn't the only one who died. It's what they deserve for betraying me. Do what I want, however…and it won't be necessary."

* * *

><p><em>I'm still breathing?<em> It came as quite a shock to Sonic as he realized that he was, incredibly, still alive. Not only that, he wasn't even crushed. He noticed that he could still move every part of his body, including his legs, and if he was hurt, he sure didn't feel that way. _Lucky me_.

He first tried to stand up straight, but the moment he did so, his head collided with the rocky surface above, causing him to rub the affected area with a grunt. Whatever space he was in that had somehow not been touched by the explosions was likely extremely small.

Naturally, it was completely dark. In fact, Sonic was pretty sure he had never been anywhere this lightless before. He couldn't even see the white gloves on his hands when he held them up in front of him, palms facing forward. The hedgehog crouched and moved ahead slowly, just to see how little he-

Before he could even finish thinking, his hands already touched the solid surface in front. Next he tried the same thing in all directions, and could hardly even take a step or two before running into another wall.

That was the moment Sonic genuinely comprehended just how screwed he was. He had only a couple of cubic feet to move around in, every wall around him was at least twenty feet thick, his oxygen supply was very limited, and not a single person knew he was here. Maybe those guerrillas were going to try and blast their way through this fallen tunnel, but by then, he would surely have suffocated to death or gotten killed by an explosion for real.

_What was that you were saying about being lucky again?_ This wasn't luck, quite the opposite in fact, as he was going to die one of the worst deaths he could possibly imagine, slowly and painfully, with no way to end it sooner.

There was no other way to put it: Sonic was scared. Frightened. Horrified. Powerless. Helpless…

As strong as his fear was, there was one more unrelated emotion that he felt far stronger still: anger.

This third collapse on him was something that finally exhausted his patience, and now Sonic was downright pissed off. At what, he had no idea, but the thought of just going out with a whimper and nobody even knowing like this because the same damn thing just kept happening to him…if he were to die, he would have liked it to at least do so in an epic battle or something. He much preferred his death to be determined by his own self or even Robotnik, not by freaking _chance_ of all things.

In his rage, the hedgehog decided to curl into a spin, as that was something he thankfully still had enough space for, before rolling back and forth with increasing speed, having decided that he would get the _hell_ out of here, one way or another. He hardened his quills to shape them into their sharpest possible form, and continued to dig them into the two opposite walls that used to be the tunnel route.

More and more pebbles fell as he repeatedly and viciously scraped both surfaces, but if they were clearing up, it was happening very, very slowly. _Why…do…tunnels…keep…collapsing…on…me!_ He thought between each time he rebounded._ And damn it, why can't I dig like Knuckles!_

Right at that time, Sonic suddenly recalled something he and Tails had learned about long before this entire adventure started. Something that could theoretically allow him to do exactly that. He remembered that it had to do with something inside his body, in his legs and quills…

* * *

><p>The same notion had just occurred to Tails as he desperately came up with a way, no matter what it was, to take the X-1s down and save Los Angeles. He remembered the physical examination in which Cheryl and her team at the hospital had discovered energy signatures of the Chaos Emeralds, or something very close to them, inside his and Sonic's bodies, and were concentrated at the areas where their displayed their abilities the most.<p>

But the most relevant part of those test results, at least right now, was that their abilities had invisible but tangible manifestations outside of their own bodies. Pretty much everyone assumed that Tails was able to fly because he spun his namesakes like helicopter blades. While it was true in a way, it wasn't his tails themselves that acted as the blades, but rather the movements in the air his tails created _around_ them through the Chaos Emerald energy as they spun. His namesakes were really mostly the center of it, the rotor head.

Remembering all of this was what made Tails ask himself: _Could I use my tails as something other than as a helicopter rotor? Something even faster?_ He theorized that he could consciously manipulate the air movements around him to do that, but it would require using his tails in a completely different manner from what he was used to.

He looked northeast again. The X-1s had all but disappeared over the horizon. There was no better moment to test the theory than now. What risk was there? Outside of needing to catch up with and defeat those planes, he also had to land somewhere soon, as he doubted he had enough energy to reach either US or Adabat shores in time before he tired out and fell into the Pacific. But if this trick worked, he'd be able to do both. It helped that the planes must have been slowed down slightly by what little damage he managed to cause to their engines earlier.

Daring to feel hopeful once more, Tails put his goggles back on and began moving again, spinning his namesakes at an angle in the same direction as the X-1s as hard as possible. Soon enough, he was already traveling at his maximum speed of approximately 450 miles per hour. He could no longer go any faster…at least not by using this method of flight.

Instead, the fox planned on using his tails to simulate another mode of propulsion he was very familiar with. He quickly and carefully thought through all of the associated factors, such as the math, the shapes, and the airflow. Confident that they all checked out, it was time for practical application.

He abruptly stopped spinning his tails, and instead stretched them out to his sides, keeping them parallel to his body, pointed backwards and as rigid as possible. Finally, he practically willed the Chaos Emerald energy inside and around them to move in the very specific way he wanted them to. Then there was the last, albeit optional, thing he had to do just to complete the whole process. "It's time…" he mouthed, trying to recall what was it Sonic always said, "…to zoom…and _boom_!"

And _boom_ was exactly what happened, as Tails instantly found himself rocketing forwards. The sudden and massive increase in speed startled him, but only briefly, before he began staying on focus. He was now traveling much faster than he ever had in his life under his own power, thanks to the fact that his tails were now, in fact, being successfully used as twin jet engines. _This_ was what Sonic had to feel like all the time!

As this was the first time he was ever doing this, Tails had to concentrate rather hard in order to maintain the exact form of the new, complex structure he'd created around his namesakes. It was mentally taxing, and physically too, as he was already beginning to feel this move's main drawback. The rate at which it consumed his energy meant he was going to get tired really damn quickly.

Fortunately, he was sure he had just enough to sustain himself before that happened. A few seconds later, he began hearing a new, somewhat loud and continuous boom sound around him as he kept moving, one that he and his spiky friend were familiar with. He had just crossed the sound barrier, something he normally could only do in the Tornado, and he couldn't help but feel deeply excited at this accomplishment.

But there was a far more important one he still hadn't done yet. The now supersonic fox continued to keep equal focus on both his tails and his forward view, scanning for all signs of the UAVs. The pressures he was feeling made him feel glad that he had his goggles with him, as his vision wouldn't be hindered by the airflow. _Keep going,_ he told himself with equal amounts of nervousness and exhilaration, _you can make it, you can make it!_

* * *

><p><em>I have to use my quills a different way<em>, Sonic finally realized as his repeated spindashes back and forth made no progress. There couldn't be much oxygen left now. He needed a form of attack whose energy was much more concentrated at a smaller spot than the spindash. Something like…a drill.

_Could I do that?_ Sonic wondered. He did his best to recall what Tails had said about this, about using the invisible energy inside or around their body parts in new ways, or something like that. Maybe he could mentally force the energy to make his quills function like a drill rather than as a saw blade?

It was now or never. The hedgehog curled into a spin and bounced himself off the surfaces once again, but once he was moving fast enough, he began spinning himself sideways rather than forwards, while he focused on sharpening all of his quills into one tiny spot, which he tried to make even smaller.

To his surprise, he felt himself actually burrowing deeper into the wall this time. It must have been about four feet at least, and this happened in just five seconds, while spindashing just now only got him a few inches in minutes. It was working!

Feeling much more relieved and confident now, Sonic repeated the procedure several times, and each time he managed to drill a couple more feet. He just hoped that the end of the tunnel he emerged from would be the correct one, if only to give Eggman quite the surprise.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of waiting, a small grey minisub finally rose out from the water with a splash. Guerrez smiled at the sight, while Robotnik simply kept the same blank expression as he put the control stick that summoned it here away.<p>

The submarine had a cuboid shape with rounded edges, and its entire front end was a large transparent bubble canopy. At the back was the entry port as well as four sizable propellers, the bottom two of which were in the water while the sub was on the water surface. Although its oxygen and ballast tanks were inside the vehicle, it still had enough space for four people including the driver.

The rear door was right at the edge of the pond, facing the two men. "Finally," the skinnier one commented, "so…after you," he said in mock respect, still aiming his pistol at him.

Robotnik wordlessly stepped towards the port and slowly twisted the circular lever on it with both hands. This was not how he planned on using this sub. Perhaps he could find some way of taking him out while on board…

He had just managed to get the door to open when both men began hearing an odd sound. It was coming from underneath the collapsed rocks that blocked off the tunnel, like something boring its way through. "What is that noise?" the fat scientist asked, only for it to be immediately answered.

Sonic the Hedgehog ended up crashing through the final few feet of rocks, flying through the air as he came out of his drill form and changed into a blunt spindash, remembering that there were people here. He did it just in time before he collided with a shocked Alejandro Guerrez, knocking him across the room, but not Robotnik.

Despite being shocked by the display and intrusion himself, the mad genius was still fully aware of the opportunity that he'd just gotten here. The moment he knew Guerrez's gun was no longer pointed at him, he quickly jumped straight into the minisub and frantically closed the door behind him, sealing it shut right away.

Robotnik then rushed forward to the submarine's cockpit controls and spun the whole vehicle around 180 degrees. "Well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog. Again," he said flatly through the sub's hidden loudspeakers as said hedgehog got off Guerrez's chest. Both Sonic and the thin man stood up to glare at the mad genius, albeit for different reasons.

"You know, it's funny," Robotnik continued, his turn to smirk now, "normally I'd be pretty mad at you interrupting me like this, but in this case, well, you really couldn't have helped me more. For once, I'm actually glad I was wrong about you being dead!"

* * *

><p>There they were! The X-1s had reappeared in front of him, and Tails was approaching them even faster than he was while in the F-16. As he got closer, he was able to confirm that it was partially because the UAVs were indeed flying slightly slower, but still fast enough to get within range of its targets in the next ten minutes if he didn't hurry.<p>

Finally, Tails did what seemed impossible just minutes ago, as he was now flying directly over the nearest X-1. Keeping steady, he lowered himself a little just to be able to grab the plane's left vertical stabilizer with his hands while on top of its left wing, before deciding to drop out of jet mode.

He was still moving at over the speed of sound after that, but it was now under the plane's power rather than his own, and was able to briefly catch his breath, panting hard. Then it was time to get to work. Spinning his tails and sharpening them, he dug them into the wing from behind, slowly cutting it up in a straight line. For a moment he worried that the wing was too wide from front to back, and that he wouldn't be able to sever it all the way without letting go of the stabilizer, which would make it really hard to stay on top of the jet, but soon enough, the entire wing came flying off.

The fox quickly leapt into the air and forced his tails into the same jet engine formation as earlier just before the plane lost control and started losing altitude. Fortunately, he managed to activate his new ability much quicker than the first time. As Tails started accelerating again, he looked down to see the X-1 spiralling into the ocean. This was when he noticed it wasn't completely empty, as there were actually a few yachts in the area, its occupants undoubtedly looking up and wondering what was going on.

He started worrying again, but not because the plane would hit the boats – they were far away enough, though he hoped there weren't any scuba divers that happened to be down in the water. Checking forwards again, his heart skipped a beat as he saw the coast of Los Angeles coming up fast. He was almost out of time!

_Come on, come on!_ Tails was taking too long to accelerate back to supersonic levels, and by then it would be too late to use the same time-consuming wing-cutting technique on the last plane as with the first. The beach was already in plain view.

There was only one way left, and considering the remaining distance, he had no guarantee that it would completely prevent damage or even loss of life, but it would still be much less than what the X-1 would do if it weren't stopped.

When Tails finally regained supersonic speed, he flew over and steadily remained about fifty meters above the plane, before getting ahead of it slightly as well. Just as he passed over Santa Monica Beach, he acted by diving downwards, trying to maintain as much of his speed as possible at the same time before making his tails spin again, hoping to carry out a souped-up version of his divebomb attack.

It worked, but unfortunately not on the part of the jet he was targeting. He wanted to smash into the X-1's main computer hub in front, which was where a cockpit would be on an ordinary plane, as destroying it would essentially render the aircraft pilotless, so to speak. The high speeds, however, made it hard to attack accurately, and he ended up hitting the right wing, punching a huge hole through it, which was good, but did not fully eliminate the chance of it launching its weapons like he intended.

Tails had been so focused on taking the plane down that he hadn't noticed that he and the X-1s had gotten steadily lower in altitude over time until he fell through the wing. When he noticed that he was now hardly over a thousand feet in the air and still decreasing fast, he began to panic, and the exhaustion from using his jet ability only made it worse as he found it hard to control his flight, especially not with the many buildings in the area, even if many of them were pretty short.

He tried to slow down, but in the end, he didn't do it fast enough before crashing straight into an office building's windows. The fox blacked out almost instantly upon collision.


	13. Chapter 12: Reversed Roles,Similar Roles

**Author's Note: Really need your reviews on this chapter, guys. Probably the deepest one I've ever written, and I'd like to be sure I've done it right.**

**Chapter 12: Reversed Roles, Similar Roles**

After mulling over it hours earlier, Alan Doherty, like many of his colleagues, had decided to pull an all-nighter, staying and resting in his office all the way, just in case there were any updates about Sonic and the other two, as well as the situation in Adabat. The last news that had come in from the Navy was that the X-1s had been successfully taken down, but the Tornado and many F/A-18s had been damaged in the process. Tails had flown his plane away, and nobody had seen him since, though he presumably managed to land it safely somewhere and join Sonic.

But the lack of direct communication with those two since the second bombing run on Adabat City was a big problem. Doherty had no idea what or how they were really doing now, and he wasn't sure the second hand reports given to the Navy by the Adabat Armed Forces were all that complete. He much preferred info coming straight from the frontline. All he could do now was hope…and of course, complete his report about everything that happened thus far on his computer.

He was typing the last few paragraphs and wanted to reach for the cup of coffee nearby when he heard a loud noise coming from outside, which was muffled by his windows. It sounded like a crash, and it had to be a pretty serious one to be audible while on the eighth floor._Must be one hell of an accident_, Alan thought as he turned around on his chair to open up the blinds, allowing him to see the large parking lot before him and the sunlight to come in.

Immediately he was baffled by what he saw. Something had indeed crashed outside, but it wasn't a car. It appeared to be an aircraft of sorts, and there was a large scorch mark on the ground behind it, likely having destroyed a few dozen cars in the process of coming to a complete stop. Fortunately, he remembered, his Chrysler wasn't parked out there.

The plane was badly damaged, the most prominent sign of it being the large hole through its right wing, causing it to be almost completely dislodged. Nevertheless the vehicle wasn't completely destroyed, and there was something disturbingly familiar about its overall shape somehow.

"Jesus, I knew they forgot to tell us something," Doherty muttered in disbelief as he quickly placed a call on his cell phone, "Yeah, Ryan, it's me. You saw that?...Yeah, let's check it the hell out right now. We need to make sure nobody's hurt."

* * *

><p>Blam, blam, blam, blam, click! Guerrez emptied his magazine into the canopy glass of the sub, with Robotnik directly in the path of his weapon's sights. All that the shooting did, however, was leave scratch marks on the glass so small as to be imperceptible, while giving himself and Sonic earaches due to the loud echoes the gunshots made in the cave.<p>

Robotnik, who had simply stood there with the same smirk and his arms crossed while the bullets came flying, let the ringing in their ears stop before he started speaking again through the loudspeakers, starting with an amused laugh. "Oh, please, Alejandro," he began after his laughter ended, "do you know how much pressure this thing is made to withstand? Your shots might as well have been ant bites. But you're welcome to keep doing it if you want to deafen yourself and Sonic, so that you won't have to hear what I have to say, and besides, you get to cause Sonic ear damage, which is better than what you've done all day!" And then he chuckled again.

Sonic remained silent, unsure at what to say to the mad scientist now that he was finally face-to-face with him. He very much wanted to just leap and spindash straight into the sub's cockpit, but the water it was in held him back. It looked pretty deep, and there was the chance Robotnik might just swerve the craft away at the last moment to make the hedgehog fall into it.

Guerrez, however, was considerably less quiet. "Go to hell," he hissed angrily as he dropped the now empty pistol on the stone floor, "I'm the one who ordered you to drop those bombs on Sonic! _You're_ the one who let him live!" This earned a suspicious glare from the hedgehog nearby.

"And look at how it's paid off," Robotnik replied, opening his arms wide to his sides to gesture at the minisub he was in. He was able to hear Guerrez's response via the long range audio sensors the vehicle had. "You know, it's great that you brought that up right here, because it's exactly what I'm about to address.

"Do you know what I slowly realized about you and the ARA in all the time I've been here? All you people keep going on about every day in your sermons are about destroying the enemy, the government, the military, the media, the corporations, the rich, the brainwashed voters, yada yada yada. But never once have I heard any of you talk about…building.

"Seriously, did even one person in the ARA ever talk about what happens _after_ your so-called revolution? Did anyone plan for what kind of government or system you wanted to put in place? Beyond the usual vague rhetoric about having some worker's paradise?

"Actually, I'm not even sure you believe in that. After all, most of the people who were killed today _were_ workers – you simply justified their deaths by pointing out who they worked for. Face it: all you wanted was revenge over what happened to you and your family. You don't care about what happens to Adabat's people in the process or your own gullible followers as long as they followed your orders. All you care about is that the enemy is destroyed. You and your brother simply chose Marxism-Leninism as a convenient label for your cause to recruit those villagers and poor people who didn't know any better. Speaking of which, didn't you say you executed Alfonso because he was getting your men killed, hmm?

"Now, I, on the other hand, was a little more ambitious. As leader, I planned on using the X-1s to bomb Angel Island and kill Knuckles so that I could take the Master and Chaos Emeralds. Then, once the government and military fell, I could harness their energy to make new inventions, and Adabat would be the only source of it in the world. Every other country would have to buy it from us if they wanted a piece of it, which would boost the economy back to levels no one had seen before. The country would need me, my knowledge, to survive.

"Meanwhile, I'd get to rule in any way I'd want," he raised a clenched fist upon saying so, "and there wouldn't be a damn thing anybody could do about it other than possibly a few sanctions, but that would be their loss. Anybody that came to topple me, like Mr. Goody Two-Shoes here," he stared mirthfully at a bewildered Sonic, "and assuming they even managed to get through the defenses I'd have built up then, would risk destabilizing the place all over again, cause havoc, violence and death, and deny the world a revolutionary energy source. Just read up some history. Some places are better off with despots than with no leader at all.

"So yes, that was the only good idea that ever came out of your mouth, Guerrez. I had simply expanded on it. Is it a perfect plan? Perhaps not. But it's much better than just blowing everyone sky high and dumping your men at the last minute, wouldn't you say? What a waste of manpower!"

Then his tone shifted to something else, sounding almost regretful, "it's a shame, Alejandro. I know how you felt. I know what it feels like to be oppressed by people who just don't care. We could have shared thoughts about this kind of thing. Instead, you and your brother just had to go and be so…unproductive."

His voice became pompous again after that. "But, in a way, your behavior was a good thing as well. I used to be like you, obsessed with destroying Sonic and his annoying pals, while having only a foggy idea of what to do with the world other than turning all of them into my slaves. Seeing how you were like, however, well, I realized I couldn't be so short-sighted anymore! I had to be much better than that!"

Robotnik now turned his gaze onto the hedgehog. "And that was why when I had the chance to immediately bomb you with the X-1, Sonic, I didn't. Because killing you, while desirable, isn't the be-all, end-all. There were just too many other ARA guerrillas inside and around that office building. At that moment, I knew Guerrez was trying to manipulate me, so that when I dropped that bomb, I would have been executed later for causing collateral damage to the ARA's own troops while wanting to kill my nemesis.

"I would have bombed you, Knuckles and that man following you seconds later, when you were further away from everyone else, but I got distracted by the Tornado coming in. So, really, you should be thankful to me! And that's the other lesson I learned: even a few seconds can make such a big difference!

A short pause later, his expression unexpectedly turned stern. "But you know what? Since you're here, I'm guessing you and your buddies have taken out the entire defense grid outside, including my last few autobuggies and a lot of my men. The US and Canadian Navies have surrounded the island and destroyed nearly all of my X-1s. Without my technology, the ARA doesn't stand a chance. I have no reason to be here anymore. So now, Sonic, you're going to see just what happens to Adabat after I leave. After that, when you go home – assuming you have one to go back to after this, hehehe – maybe you'll wonder if it was a better idea to have never come here to interfere at all! As for myself, oh well, I'll just consider all of this as practice – lessons to be learned and applied elsewhere!

"I'm sure Alejandro has a few things of his own to say to you, and a nice surprise for you as well. And so…" Robotnik engaged some of his controls, and the minisub began to descend into the water. "…until we meet again, Sonic the Hedgehog! This has been a most eye-opening adventure! Hohohohoho…"

That was the last of what they saw and heard of Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik before his minisub completely submerged itself underwater. Sonic finally began moving again, frantically walking up to the edge of the large pool, only just to see the vehicle speed away through an underwater tunnel. He watched in pain as it disappeared into the opening, knowing full well he could never hope to follow it.

That was when he heard an ominous 'click' sound coming from nearby. The hedgehog turned to see the thin, clearly enraged man aiming another pistol that he had on his person straight at him, and had done it just in time before he pulled the trigger.

A lifetime of dodging bullets, rockets and missiles fired by Robotnik's creations, not to mention his own training, had made Sonic's reflexes absolutely unparalleled. In less than the blink of an eye, he tiled his body to the left, and the bullet sailed past where his forehead had been. He was immediately reminded of what Alan had said before, about it was much more dangerous for mobians to be shot compared to humans, because they had heads which took up a larger proportion of their bodies, which only made him even gladder he had such an ability.

The sudden display of superhuman agility was not doing wonders for Guerrez's mood, or even his sanity. With a loud roar, he began firing the pistol again, with a much shorter delay between each shot now. It was still manageable for Sonic, though, albeit barely. He was able to bend, crouch, tilt, and even jump just in time to dodge every incoming bullet, thought there were a few that came extremely close, and at the same time he also had to narrowly avoid falling into the water behind him.

Finally, a click sound signified that the thirteen round mag of the Browning HP was depleted, and Guerrez continued to desperately press the trigger over and over, as if it doing so would magically replenish his ammo. Then only did it occur to the man that he was carrying extra mags, which caused him to clumsily try and reach for one, but as he did so, Sonic sped up to him and knocked the pistol out of his hands. The shooting had made him incredibly nervous, and that simply had not been his idea of a training exercise. Once was enough.

The hedgehog decided that he'd been silent for way too long. "So," he began, sounding unsure of himself, "care to explain what Robotnik was talking about?"

* * *

><p><em>Ow, ow…<em>The first thing Tails sensed was the pain all over his body, and it made him wish he was out for a little longer. He slowly opened his eyes, only to close them again before he actually saw anything. He was hurting, he was tired, and he so dearly just wanted to rest…

Then he remembered the X-1, and his eyes instantly shot open. He had not made sure if he'd managed to disable or otherwise defeat the plane in time, or even at all. His concern about the damage it could still cause, or possibly even already caused, was all the motivation he needed. It didn't fully eliminate his tiredness or pain, but it did make him deprioritize them.

Above him was a bland, white surface – a ceiling. His goggles had already fallen off his eyes. The fox moved his fingers experimentally. Fortunately, they didn't feel like they were broken or affected. Then he slowly moved his arms to press his hands against the floor and lift himself up…

"Ah!" He collapsed again almost right away due to the sharp stabs of pain it caused, primarily on his torso. His eyes still open, he tilted his head forwards just enough to see what was wrong. As it turned out, his body was full of cuts and gashes, and the normally white fur on his chest and abdomen was now stained with streaks of red. His twin tails laid limply to his right, and he noticed that they were also bleeding in certain areas, having suffered similar wounds. Moving his head had caused it to hurt as well, and when he reached a hand up to his forehead, he realized it was wet, and sure enough, he saw that his glove was now soaked with blood. _I already busted my head once_, he thought with a frown, remembering what the ARA members did to him in the warehouse.

This was when Tails also noticed that he wasn't alone. In front of him, several men and women dressed in business outfits were staring at him, both out of bewilderment at what just happened and out of worry for the poor shape the fox was in. He was in an office of some kind, and to the group's left were a shattered window and a few overturned office cubicles and desks, with several glass shards next to them, some of which were also stained red.

Immediately understanding what it meant, Tails' first reaction was to blush. "S-s-sorry about that," he muttered as his cheeks turned red, though fortunately not because of bleeding. He was once again feeling nervous in the company of strangers, especially given what he'd just done to their workplace. "I-I was, uh…" His words got stuck at his throat. How was he supposed to explain without sounding ridiculous?

"Is it, uh, that plane over there?" One of the men suggested as he gestured to an unbroken window. "Were you chasing that thing?" he added in disbelief.

The fox blinked in surprise. "It's there?" he asked, sounding slightly more energetic but apprehensive now. He tried getting up again, but all he ended up doing was cringing. The agony was really too much.

A hand appeared over him, and he quickly grabbed it without even thinking. The office worker helped to pull him up, and although it was still painful, it was less so compared to doing it alone. "Thanks," Tails said, feeling glad that he was still able to stand.

Clutching his bleeding torso, the fox slowly and painfully walked over to the window the man pointed at. Due to his height, he had to climb onto a table that hadn't been knocked over before he could see outside of it, which again hurt very much, but he couldn't let that slow him down right now.

From there Tails could see that he was rather high up, possibly over this building's tenth floor, giving him a clear view of the area nearby. The closest neighboring building was a large grey block that looked very familiar. A guess of what it could be formed in his mind, which was only proven correct when he saw the large and equally familiar parking lot across it on the other side of the street. It's the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office!

In the center of the parking lot was none other than the X-1, or what was left of it. The fox noted with worry the amount of damage it had caused in its wake after crashing into and scraping along the ground at least a dozen meters. He hoped nobody was hurt down there.

That was when another question occurred to him, a very critical one. The X-1 was supposed to have exploded into tiny pieces of debris, yet the plane below, although badly damaged, was clearly still recognizable. "Wait," he asked hurriedly after turning to the workers, sounding softer than he wanted to be due to the pain he was in, "were there any explosions?"

"Um, no, we didn't hear any," another man said, looking confused, "were there supposed to be?"

"Uh…" Tails wasn't sure how to reply. The plane had neither dropped any of its ordnance nor exploded in close proximity to others, so nobody had been killed, except for possibly a few people in that parking lot. That was obviously a good thing, but there was one more consideration to take into account. Since the X-1 was still there, that meant that there was still a chance that it could-

"Oh my god!" another worker looking out of the window suddenly exclaimed, snapping the fox out of his thoughts, "the plane's not dead! It's getting back up! Look!"

Alarmed again, Tails turned back to face the X-1, only to see that it was indeed hovering, slowly rising from the ground with its thrusters pointed downwards, confirming his deepest worry. Even from up here, he could also clearly see that the people who had been surrounding the plane were now fearfully running away in all directions. At the same time, the jet was orienting itself to face the FBI building in a manner most menacing.

A cold chill ran through the fox's blood when he finally understood what it was doing. Robert Mayes and his family were very likely inside that building, and the plane, although having a crippled wing, might still be able to reach its minimum height for performing air strikes and stay there just long enough to launch an air-to-ground missile into the field office before dropping down again and likely self-destructing, causing even more deaths. It was just everyone's sheer misfortune that the X-1 happened to land right next to its target.

The jet was now gaining altitude faster, and was about to exceed the height of the FBI building itself. Tails realized at this point that there was only one way left to save everyone, and if he didn't begin moving immediately, it would be too late.

He quickly rushed all the way to the window he had broken through, ignoring all of the pain on his gut, tails, and forehead, as well as the surprised cries of the office workers. "Woah, what are you doing?" a woman asked, but he had no time to answer.

Once he was there the fox quickly started spinning his namesakes, and everyone backed away as he did so. The agony his tails felt increased sharply, as if the cuts on them were being rubbed with salt, but he was too focused on the threat ahead to pay any attention to it.

Just as Tails flew out of the broken window a short distance, the worst happened. The X-1 had reached the height it was aiming for and had launched a missile, which was aimed straight at the field office, the same kind that could bring the entire building down, just like it had done many others in Adabat City.

Fortunately, this was what the genius fox had already anticipated, and as a result, instead of continuing in helicopter mode, he immediately stretched his tails to his sides, activated his jet ability once again and took off just like one, stunning the first witnesses of this move of his behind him, some of which had already started recording the action with their smartphones.

The missile was approaching the building fast, but he was approaching the missile even faster. He had a radical plan in mind, and it was likely going to hurt like hell, much more than his body did right now, but if it worked, it could save the field office from being destroyed while also making sure the X-1 itself was destroyed without the ensuing explosion harming anyone…except perhaps himself.

Finally, he got to the missile right before he breached the sound barrier, and he put his idea into motion, quite literally.

It all happened incredibly quickly. Just meters away from the building's front surface now, Tails dropped out of jet mode to free up his still bleeding namesakes, before using both of them to physically grab the missile, wrapping around it against his back as tightly as possible. Still in the air, he then twisted himself 180 degrees sideways with all of his might. His sheer willpower and urge to make sure the plan worked, not to mention the adrenaline, were the only things that prevented him from passing out from the pain, which was now worse than ever.

Thankfully, the missile had spun right along with him, and the fox released his grip around it in the split second he knew it was now pointed at the right direction. With no loss in momentum and having not enough distance to fly back onto its programmed course, it could only head straight for the very plane that had launched it, or rather, where Tails had calculated the X-1 would be as it descended.

Knowing what was about to happen, Tails had snapped back into helicopter mode and was trying to get away as fast as possible, but he didn't make it sufficiently far before the missile slammed straight through the jet and hit its volatile emerald energy source.

There was enough distance between him and the huge explosion to save him from being vaporized, but not enough to protect him from the shockwave and the bits of fast-moving shrapnel and debris. The former forcefully pushed him down the towards the ground much faster than he intended while making him flip forwards in the air wildly, the latter added yet more cuts onto his battered body, and both caused him to scream loudly out of fear and pain respectively.

Tails ended up hitting the ground about three times faster than he had wanted to. As his feet came into contact with the grass, they immediately snapped with a sickening crunch, although rather than becoming louder, his screams abruptly stopped.

A few seconds later all of him was finally on the surface as he collapsed onto the small grass field, one of the two that flanked the concrete walkway in front of the field office's entrance. He laid there moaning silently and catching his breath, too tired to cry out in pain.

Very slowly and carefully, he turned to look upwards and see the smoke in the air, where the missile had collided with the X-1, as well as the now fully bright sky. The blast had undoubtedly smashed a huge number of windows in the surrounding area, including every single one on the FBI building that faced the parking lot, but he was sure nobody had been killed directly by it. Not unless there were people directly below the plane when it blew up, but it was unlikely, as he'd seen everyone run away from it in fear when it had started to lift off the ground.

With the threat finally eliminated, the effects of the adrenaline that had been sustaining him wore off quickly. Tails slowly closed his eyes and was about to blissfully let the darkness claim him, to take him from the agony he felt everywhere, until he remembered one last thing he had to do.

To his dismay, the injured fox realized he couldn't pass out yet. He wanted to very much, however, and hoped he could get this final task done soon.

Tails began hearing the voices of nearby people coming up to him, many of whom were expressing shock, horror, amazement, and other emotions. Reluctantly reopening his eyes, he slowly flipped back onto his wounded torso, which stung, to see the crowd that had gathered before him. He really hoped that the person he was looking for would come out of it soon.

He wanted to speak, but found himself too exhausted and weak to do so. The small fox began pulling himself towards the large group of worried people using his thankfully uninjured hands, as he knew there was no way he could get up or move with his now broken feet. If only he could, he lamented, as it would make things so much easier.

The injuries to his torso, tails and feet were stinging worse and worse as he dragged himself across the grass, but he had to get closer to the people for them to hear his words. "Alan…" he mouthed, trying to speak up as tears came down his face in response to his agony, "…Doherty…please…"

Mercifully, a few people, the ones who weren't starting to cry themselves, were able to hear what he said, and repeated the name much more loudly to the others. That was when he finally heard it. "Tails!" a man's familiar voice shouted, "Tails!"

Alan Doherty appeared, rushing through the last few people in the crowd, before immediately kneeling down in front of the young fox. "Tails," he said again more quietly, looking more worried than he ever had since Sonic and Tails started to know him, "damn it…"

Without saying anything, the barely conscious fox reached into one of the pockets hidden in the fur of his battered namesakes. After fumbling around a bit, he managed to get the cell phone that he had placed inside before he had begun flying here. Quite surprisingly, other than a slightly cracked screen, it seemed to be still functional, confirmed when he managed to turn it on by pressing its buttons.

Tails pleadingly held the phone up to Alan's face with a bloody gloved hand. "Robotnik's…phone," he managed to say intelligibly, "recordings on it…used it to…talk…to…Robert Mayes…"

Nodding in understanding, Doherty quickly took the phone, knowing how he and his colleagues could use it. "You're going to be alright," he assured, "we're going to get you help, I swear."

"T-thanks," he replied weakly, and for a moment it almost seemed like he was smiling. "Well," he continued as his voice got progressively softer, "I guess…that's…everything…"

Satisfied that he had done all he had to do, Miles 'Tails' Prower closed his eyes and went limp on the grass, immediately causing the crowd to holler loudly in horror. "Get an ambulance here!" Doherty shouted frantically to his coworkers, including Ryan Warner, nearby, "get it here now!"

* * *

><p>Sonic and Guerrez continued to stare at each other just like they had done wordlessly for the past five minutes. The man had not answered the hedgehog's question, and simply stood there fuming, huffing, puffing, clenching his fists, a live grenade that could go off anytime now. He obviously had not taken Robotnik's lecture and confession well.<p>

It was strange, however. Sonic hardly even knew this man, and yet the bitter, burning and bloodshot gaze the hedgehog was getting from him was already clearly filled with a far deeper hatred than anything he'd ever got from Robotnik. Now that was truly saying something. If looks could kill, Guerrez's glare would be as destructive as the weapon in the other room, which Sonic hadn't learned about yet.

The silence finally broke. "So," Guerrez began with a contemptuous tone, "the great hero has come to take the big bad guy to justice, hasn't he?"

Sonic glared back hard, albeit not murderously. "If you're the guy who gave the orders to kill all those people in the city today," he replied, sounding at his most stern since his arrival on Earth, "then yeah, I guess I'll have to take you with me." Especially since he couldn't do the same with Robotnik anymore.

This earned him a cold chuckle from the former ARA leader, but it was one clearly devoid of all humor or light-heartedness, something even Robotnik's chuckles usually had. Then Guerrez shook his head. "You have no idea why we fought," he said without dropping his hateful tone, "why the ARA came to be in the first place. You have no idea who you're helping."

"Who says it has to be for helping someone?" Sonic responded calmly, trying to hide his confusion.

To this, Guerrez did not reply. Instead, he simply turned around and slowly walked into the other storage room the cave had.

"Hey," Sonic called out as he followed him through the doorway, "where do you think you're going? What's in this roo-"

He was cut off as his question was answered before he could even voice it. He had expected it to be some sort of secret weapon Robotnik or Guerrez had hidden for him.

And in a way, it was.

The room was quite small, and its walls were fully covered in newspaper cutouts, including headlines, which included both Spanish and English ones. Some cutouts and articles looked older than others, but the ones Sonic could understand were what silenced him.

_Adabat Police crack down on protests, 71 killed, 314 injured_

_34% of Adabat have no health insurance_

_Adabat's 2010 wealth inequality gap second worst in Latin America_

_PFA police officers acquitted of murdering union leader Antonio Guerrez_

_Adabat military opens fire on protesters_

_Seguro Imperio CEO quote leaks out: "The poor deserve to die"_

_How corporations stole land from Adabat's farmers_

_Adabat's oldest worker's union shut down_

There were many others, but the speechless hedgehog couldn't bring himself to read more. When Robotnik talked about understanding Guerrez's motivation, was this what he meant? Sonic couldn't believe that he and Tails hadn't looked deeper into the ARA's background while using the internet, and for a moment, he felt a pang of shame.

"What was it Che Guevara once said?" Guerrez, who was standing in the center of the room and looking at his collection, asked quietly. "_Violence is not the monopoly of the exploiters, and as such, the exploited can use it too, and moreover, ought to use it when the moment arrives_." He turned around to glare at Sonic again. "And that moment…was when they murdered our parents and got away with it. Because they dared to speak out against the oppressors, the imperialists. And there are countless more that lost everything and everyone they had to these pigs.

"When the corporate-backed government slaughtered our families on the streets thirty years ago, the West turned a blind eye to what happened here. The United States continued to sell weapons to the Adabat military and said nothing about the atrocities it and the police thugs committed, as is typical of their government. We were completely alone, and there was nobody to help us.

"My brother and I fled to the mountains and formed the Adabat Revolutionary Army to strike back. We were successful in what we did…for thirty years, we provided home and shelter for more and more people the government tried to crush.

"And after all of the battles and struggles, the government never changed. The political parties promise reform every election, but the corporate elite that controls them prevents that from ever happening. Their greed is such that making a few thousand more dollars a month is more important to them than letting a few thousand more mouths be fed. We all knew that the only way things could ever change is if they were removed by force. _All_ of them. Not a single person who continued to work in the existing system could remain.

"When we met Robotnik and learned about what he could do, we thought that our day of victory had arrived. He told us stories about his background similar to ours, and we trusted him…" It was Guerrez's turn to appear ashamed. "How foolish I was…"

Once again, he looked at Sonic straight in the eye. "So tell me, hedgehog," he said accusingly, "was the only reason you came here to stop Robotnik, because he's the only one you were worried about? Did you give a shit about anything or anyone else? After you got him, you were just going to haul him away while leaving Adabat to continue suffering, before going home. Never mind that in your own current home country, the same problems of inequality and injustice exist. The only difference is nobody has taken up arms there, partly because many of the people there who own guns are also the ones who advocate the very same repressive policies. Ironic. And know this too: if you bring me to court, if there is even one still left in this country, I will be judged by the same people who caused all of this to happen in the first place.

"So…" Guerrez's gaze grew into its harshest appearance so far. "Who's the bad guy now…_hero_?"

Following that question was the most uncomfortable silence Sonic had ever experienced. Internally, his thoughts and emotions were in turmoil. First Robotnik's speech, and now this. He had never exactly been a debater or deep thinker, nor had he ever been interested in history or politics. What was he supposed to say now?

Fortunately, the hedgehog realized that he wasn't completely without responses. After examining both what Robotnik and Guerrez had said, he was now able to read between the lines and make his own deductions.

He decided to finally speak his mind. "Okay, first off," Sonic began, sounding rather apologetic, "I'm sorry for what happened to your family, and to that of the others as well. I'm sorry for not researching this country's history better. I can fully understand why you and your brother established the ARA. Believe me, everything you've just told me, I've seen it first hand with Robotnik. My own people back on my home planet tortured and abused him, and turned him into what he is today. I could have stopped it from happening, but I didn't, and I've been trying to make up for it ever since, in the last ten years of my life. I _know_ what it's like."

The hedgehog took a daring step forwards, eye contact remaining in place, and continued in a firmer tone. "But here's the thing. Just because someone has suffered horribly at the hands of others doesn't mean he can let vengeance consume him. When he stops caring about what happens to anyone else as long as his enemy is destroyed in the process, he ends up creating new enemies who'll hate him in return for what he did to them or their loved ones, and won't care about what happened to him in the past. To a lot of people, he ends up looking even worse than his enemy.

"Whatever happened to Robotnik happened to you, sort of. You were definitely sincere about helping other oppressed people, at least at first. But then over time, you began to feel that the government, the elites, or whoever, had to go at any cost, to the point where, according to Robotnik, you even killed your own brother over it. And worse was what you did in Adabat City yesterday. Over ten thousand dead, definitely more after the second bombing.

"Let me ask you this: Can you honestly say every single person who got killed were people who were responsible for what happened to you? Did literally every one of those people support the government's policies? Including the tourists? Many of the workers in those big corporations were simply working to make ends meet too. In fact, it's possible most of those people actually agree that the system should be changed to be more equal," Sonic said, remembering Rojas' lamentations.

"But you didn't care. You got all those people killed just to get at their bosses. Back on Mobius, Robotnik ended up killing a whole lot of people in his anger, including children, that didn't even have anything to do with what happened to him, causing nearly everyone to view him as a dangerous enemy, not caring why he was like that, because to them it wasn't important.

"And then there's also the people you hate so much themselves. I know what they did was horrible. I understand why you wanted to kill them all. And frankly, I don't feel like pulling the 'killing is wrong' card. I won't judge you for it, nor agree with it, but I understand it. It's again the same with Robotnik. But still…you sure there wasn't any other way? To continue protesting without ever giving up? I heard similar things had happened in other countries, both in the past and the present, including America, I know, and eventually they succeeded or had some effect, didn't they? I don't know, but when I see it that way, it doesn't seem as futile as you think it is.

"So, to answer your question, yes, when we first came to Adabat, it was all only about Robotnik. He's always been a danger while in power, and I couldn't let him make others suffer, because I don't think he cares for a lot of humans either. You heard what he said earlier. But then we began learning things, and realized that there were factors that allowed him to take over in the first place, that it wasn't that simple. And it's finally come to this."

His stare at the man was now almost pleading. "Look…I can't just let you go like that. I have to bring you in. But at the same time, I can defend you somewhat. I can tell the world that although what you did was wrong, you were not the one who started it, that you didn't just want to do it out of boredom, but as a response to real past injustices, and that everyone should learn a lesson from all of this, so that it never happens again. And besides, even if you decline, where are you going after this? Your own men are out to kill you. And even if they don't, someone else will, the family of someone you bombed. With me, though, you'll stay alive.

"I want to help you, just like I want to help Robotnik. Please," Sonic said quietly as he slowly held out a hand, sincerely hoping that he had gotten his message across. He was quite surprised that he actually managed to say that much.

Again there was silence, and this time Guerrez was the one who was speechless. He looked down at his own battle-hardened body, apparently considering the hedgehog's offer. For a moment, Sonic actually felt hopeful.

Then a shadow fell over the man's face, and the moment Sonic saw it, his hope melted away. Guerrez walked through the other door, striding past the hedgehog, into the other storage room in the cave, into where his real secret weapon was.

That was when Sonic saw through the doorway the large number of explosives surrounding a metal case with the electronic readout on it. He had seen Tails handle something like this before, volatile extracted emerald energy stored inside a box, and immediately he understood, with alarm, what was being planned here.

He was about to react when Guerrez turned around again. "Don't," he warned, holding up a detonator with a wire attached to it and his thumb firmly pressed on the button, "I let go of this thing and you'll die too." That was enough to keep Sonic standing still.

"You just don't get it," Guerrez said in his ever bitter voice, "your arguments are interesting, but ultimately irrelevant. Since you have ruined everything, there _is_ no lesson to learn from this, and it _will_ keep happening again and again. This is the only thing left I can do. Once I detonate these bombs, the emerald energy storage device will be badly damaged and eventually explode, wiping out at least half of Adabat, including the city. It's what the ARA deserves for betraying me, and I'd rather Adabat die than fall under the rule of the oppressors again!"

Sonic, feeling his heart sink, began taking a few steps back, reluctantly acknowledging for the umpteenth time that he couldn't save everyone.

"Goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog," Alejandro Guerrez said in mock politeness before letting go of the detonator, "it was nice talking to you."

Sonic broke eye contact with the man for the last time and immediately jumped out into the main cave, into where he never thought he would be safe: the water. Just as he dropped inside with a splash, the explosions went off, obliterating everything inside both storage rooms, with the exception of one thing, while heavily shaking the entire place.

The water near the edge wasn't particularly deep, and Sonic was able to climb back out easily after hearing the deafening booms. His ears were definitely not going to be the same after this. Nor his psyche, for that matter.

But first, he had to actually get out of here alive. Getting out of the water while soaking wet, he saw that the walls that made up the storage rooms were completely blasted away, and there was a huge hole in the ground where the bombs had gone off. Thankfully, Guerrez's remains were nowhere to be seen.

One object, however, remained there at the epicentre of the blast. The emerald energy storage device was still visible, but was severely damaged, and was already starting to show signs of dangerous instability as it emitted a loud, laser-like noise and beams of bright light from the cracks on its exterior He stood there staring at it with his pulse racing and no idea what to do.

"Sonic?" he unexpectedly heard a familiar male voice call out. It was coming from the collapsed tunnel that led here. When he turned to look to see who it was, he jumped at first, but relief quickly took over.

"Knux!" Sonic called out as he got up to the red echidna, who had apparently just dug his way through the rocks, "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Me too," Knuckles simply replied, "but…what just happened here? I felt an explosion, and it broke up the rocks I was digging through."

"Well, uh, long story, but there's gonna be a way bigger explosion after that," Sonic hurriedly said as he looked back at the increasingly unstable metal case, "that thing stores Chaos Emerald energy."

"What!" The echidna recoiled backwards in horror. "Then we gotta get out of here!"

"We won't be able to make it far enough," Sonic quickly added, "I don't know how much of that stuff was inside, but they said it's enough to take out half the whole island. We have to shut it down first!"

"But how?" Knuckles shouted in panic.

"You're the Guardian of these things, you tell me!"

"I've never had to deal with exploding Emeralds before!"

"There has to be a way, there has a way, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…" Sonic was now pacing back and forth in the cave so fast that he was practically leaving afterimages as he struggled to think of anything he'd seen or learned that could work. There had to be something! _If only Tails were here!_

Sonic's pacing abruptly came to a halt. _Tails? Wait…_And then, that something finally struck him. He remembered Tails had said something about how chaos emerald energy reserves didn't work so well in cold environments. It was merely something the fox had told him out of excitement, yet that knowledge could very well save not just their lives, but that of a few million Adabatians as well. "Wait, Knux," he asked, "you think freezing this thing could work? Cold temperatures?"

Knuckles looked puzzled for a moment, but then he recalled something too. "I do remember that when Angel Island travelled far north on Mobius, it actually dropped lower towards the sea, until it touched the water. So maybe the Emeralds really don't work well with cold. But how exactly are you going to freeze this thing?" he asked.

Sonic's train of thought was running as fast as he did while he racked through his memories again. There had to be something really cold that could be used here. Ice? Lots of ice? Liquid nitro-

The hedgehog stopped at that thought. Liquid nitrogen! LN2! He saw large cylinders with those labels while on the way here! "Knux, I got it! Follow me! I think I know what we can use, but I'll need your help carrying them! Is the way out there clear?"

"Uh, yeah! I had to take out a whole lot of guards coming in here. Don't know if there're any left. Anyway, let's go!"

They rushed out of the now cleared up tunnel and entered the winding corridors, with Sonic leading the way. He could still remember where the storage room with those tools was, and fortunately it wasn't very far. On the way, they passed the same unconscious guards on the floor that Knuckles had knocked out and Sonic had to avoid earlier.

A few turns later and they were finally there. "Grab those LN2 tanks!" Sonic said loudly, "as many as you can! Bring them back to the cave!"

As it turned out, Knuckles was able to carry up to eight of them, and he didn't look like he was struggling to do so either. Holding four in each arm, he rushed back to the cave with Sonic.

There, the metal case was glowing brighter and brighter, and the noise was also louder now. "Alright, break the tanks over the thing!"

The echidna did what he was asked and immediately cracked one of the cylinders open like most people would an egg, allowing its contents to spill all over the metal case. Just to be safe, he ended up repeating the procedure with the other seven tanks.

By this time both of them could feel a noticeable drop in the cave's temperature due to the sheer amount of the liquid poured out. The metal case had rapidly frozen up, and it looked like Sonic's idea worked, as the lights and noises coming from the thing were already subsiding.

They were nevertheless still there, however, and Knuckles remained nervous. "We still gotta get outta here," he said, "at the very least the explosion should be much smaller now. Only this mountain will be affected, probably."

"But how are we gonna get outta here in time?" Sonic asked, remembering how complex the series of tunnels that had led here was.

The echidna dashed over to the water. "By swimming. Grab my arm, hold your breath and don't let go!"

The hedgehog, naturally, was unsettled about needing to submerge himself underwater, but decided that it was still better than being caught in the emerald energy blast. He held Knuckles by his left biceps before both dropped into the pond.

Knuckles began breast stroking into the underwater tunnel down there, the same one Robotnik had escaped through, though he didn't know that. Sonic continued to hold onto the echidna's arm, squeezing it rather tightly, but he was able to stop himself from cutting off the blood circulation in it. Meanwhile, Knuckles simply swam as if Sonic wasn't there at all. He much preferred to do it freestyle, but that would make it harder for Sonic to hold onto him. Fortunately, the different technique did not slow him down much, if at all.

They had no idea how long the tunnel was, but eventually they reached the end of it, and both got up to the surface to take in deep breaths, with Sonic's being much deeper.

Just as they did that, however, the mountain on the dry land before them suddenly shook powerfully and loudly, as if being hit by an earthquake. Tons of rocks began to tumble down its sides, but they didn't notice that, as the same thing that caused it also generated huge waves in the water, and they were immediately swept up in one. At this point, Sonic was now grabbing Knuckles' hand directly and holding on to dear life, as even the echidna couldn't swim like this.

They ended up being carried away in several more waves, all of which threatened to break the grip between their hands, but fortunately that never happened. About a minute later, the water seemed to finally calm down, and they could now go up to the surface without further disturbances.

Before they could wonder where to go next, both of them noticed that they weren't alone out here. Several large ships, many with visible USS markings on their sides, were nearby, and they could hear the sound of a familiar type of machine hovering above. They looked up to see a helicopter coming down on them slowly, and after reaching a certain height, it stayed there while a rope was dropped out from the side.

The rope was long enough to touch the water, which was splashing around due to the downwash created by the chopper's blades. Both reflexively held onto it, as even Knuckles was exhausted now, and so it was just as welcome to him as it was to Sonic.

Slowly the duo was lifted up to the vehicle, and its crew pulled them in with warm, strong hands. Once they were finally inside, Sonic started coughing heavily to get some of the water he'd swallowed by mistake out. "Thanks," he said hoarsely once he could speak again, "and you too, Knux," he added.

"No problem," a Navy crewmember said while the echidna simply nodded, "we saw you guys out in the water while looking at that mountain go berserk. Jesus, must be a hell of a bomb inside or something. You guys got lucky, otherwise we wouldn't have seen you. You alright?"

"Yeah," Sonic replied quietly. _Physically, at least_.

"That's good, 'cause we just got some news," the man continued flatly, "it's about your two-tailed friend in LA."

That got his full attention. "Tails? How is he?" he asked, sounding concerned. He always did when he hadn't seen the young fox in a while.

"Heard he did a big hero stunt, saved the FBI building from instant demolition and destroying the X-1 that was trying to do it, but he got badly hurt in the process," the crewmember reported.

"Hurt?" His green eyes grew wide at the news. "How bad?"

"He's on his way to the hospital, if he isn't there already, so nobody knows yet, though he did pass out, and word is he looked pretty banged up." The man got closer to the hedgehog. "Tell you what, we can arrange transport for you to go back to LA to visit him. Unless you still have anything else to do in Adabat?"

The mention of the country caused Sonic to look out of the helicopter. In the distance, he watched in sorrow as large plumes of smoke continued to rise from the remains of Adabat City, obscuring the morning sky. Nearby, one of the ships launched a missile, which began to fly straight towards some target in the city, ensuring that the smoke would not subside for a while. _Well, at least the city's still there_.

"Well…I still do, sorta," he finally replied with a sigh, "but yeah, I still need to see how he's doing. Knux, you wanna come too before going back to Angel Island?"

The echidna's reply came instantly without hesitation. "Of course."


	14. Chapter 13: Aftermath

**Chapter 13: Aftermath**

The first thing Tails sensed, again, was the pain all over his body, though it didn't feel as bad as the first time. The second thing he was feeling, oddly enough, was comfort, as he was lying on something really soft and smooth, in a sit-up position. He welcomed it.

His wounds still hurt, but in a different way, as they felt like they had been cleaned and closed up, rather than dirty and exposed, inviting infection. He also realized that he wasn't particularly tired, at least not anymore, and therefore decided to finally open his eyes.

Tails found himself in a room full of white surfaces. At the corner of his sight, he noticed that there were several people to his left that looked and sounded familiar, as they were murmuring something amongst themselves. He slowly tilted his head to look, and…

"Sonic!" The fox was overjoyed to see the hedgehog again, and that he seemed fine. In his excitement, he forgot about his injuries and tried to sit up higher on the bed to get closer to Sonic and the others, only to fall back on the pillow with a grimace. "Ow…"

"Woah, woah," Sonic said in concern as he got up closer beside his injured friend, "don't make sudden movements like that, bud."

"Sonic," Tails called out again after he was done cringing, looking straight into those green eyes, "are you…are you okay?"

The apparently simple question made Sonic fall silent as he stared blankly at Tails. Next to the hedgehog, Knuckles and Alan also had similar looks on their faces.

A few seconds later, a big smile formed on Sonic's muzzle, and he unexpectedly burst out laughing. "Oh, Tails," he managed to say as he tried to bring himself under control while shaking his head, "I'm…I'm the one who's supposed to ask you that!" His laughter continued for a little longer. "I mean, seriously, you don't look so good. And I'm okay," he finally replied as he calmed down, "mostly."

He was still aching all over, and Tails decided to check out how bad his own condition was. The head portion of his bed was already lifted up at an incline, which made it easier for him to look downwards at his own body. It didn't take a genius, even if it Tails was one, to see what Sonic was talking about.

His body was almost as white as the room they were in. His torso was covered in bandages and stitches, as were his twin tails, which were resting on a pillow to his right. His mangled feet were wrapped up in bulky plaster casts, covering everything below his knees, and also propped up on a pillow. Mercifully, his arms and hands were fine, though his gloves and WRID had been removed. He raised his right one up to his forehead, and confirmed that it was also bandaged.

So, not so well off, then. Yet despite this, Tails couldn't help but smile weakly. "Well," he commented with a slight chuckle, "this is going to be kinda inconvenient."

"Man, you're taking it so much better than I would," Sonic responded with a warm smile of his own, one that hadn't appeared on his expression for seemingly ages.

That prompted Tails to ask a question, slightly serious now. "Wait, how long was I out?"

"Almost twenty-four hours," Alan replied as he got up from the chair, leaving the laptop he was using on it, "Cheryl was expecting it to be a little longer. She did a great job helping you, though."

Tails nodded in intrigue. No wonder he felt like he'd been fully recharged. He was also glad to know who the doctor that patched him up was. This meant that he was probably in the same hospital where he and Sonic had undergone their physical examination.

"You okay, kid?" Knuckles asked, sounding genuinely concerned. It was quite rare to hear him talk like that.

"It…hurts everywhere," Tails admitted, then added more confidently, "but I can handle it. I can only get better from here, especially considering who'll take care of me. Thanks for coming, Knux."

"You're welcome. It's only appropriate," the echidna replied, also smiling now.

"Hey, uh, here," Sonic said as he took up a few objects on the table next to Tails' bed and handed it over, which turned out to be the fox's gloves. "Had to clean them to get the blood out first," he added, which explained why they looked so white and pristine now. "Can't forget this either," the hedgehog continued, giving Tails a familiar item, his WRID. "And I already put your shoes back home."

"Thanks," Tails said before proceeding to put them back on his hands.

"Oh yeah, by the way," Sonic then said, sounding amused, "you should probably see what headline the _LA Times_ gave you."

The fox was confused. "Huh?"

In response, Sonic took up a newspaper from table, today's issue of the _Los Angeles Times_, and showed the main headline to Tails while grinning. _KICKING YOUR ASS_, it proclaimed in bold letters, _WITH HIS OWN!_ This was accompanied by a photo of Tails and the X-1 taken from the ground, just before he grabbed that missile and threw it back towards the UAV, in front of the FBI field office.

It was now the fox's turn to start laughing, with Sonic joining in again, and even Knuckles did the same. "That's," Tails said while trying to stop, as laughing too hard turned out to be quite painful for his torso wounds, "uh, interesting."

"And from the looks of it, I think it's already turning into an internet meme," Alan commented, looking at the laptop on the chair, "even Sonic doesn't have his own yet."

"Darn," Sonic said in mock disappointment, "maybe I should say _zoom and boom_ more often."

Tails continued smiling. "You know, I actually did say that myself," he decided to tell the hedgehog, "before I, uh, started chasing after those planes."

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that, can't believe I did," Sonic said as he looked at Tails again, his eyes filled with amazement, "I heard you went supersonic, that you were flying like a jet instead of a helicopter? How'd you do that? That was wicked!" There was a clear note of pride in his voice.

"A lot of people are pretty astounded too," Alan said, "you've never done that before, have you?"

"I guess I do kinda have to explain," Tails said, "yeah, it's the first time I've ever done that. I remembered the test results that came after Cheryl examined me and Sonic, showing that my tails can manipulate the airflow around using the emerald energy in our bodies – it's how I've always flown. But it wasn't fast enough to catch up with the X-1s after they blew up the F-16 I was in, so I had to try something different. So I thought if I could use them like a helicopter rotor, I could use them as jet engines – so I quickly made them simulate the same ones the Tornado uses, as they seemed to be the most suitable candidates. I'm just so glad it worked," the fox finished in a relieved tone, before being reminded of something else he had to ask about. "Wait, how's the Tornado? Where is it?"

"Oh, the Navy brought it back here and handed it over to the Air Force," Doherty explained, "it's back at Edwards, though it doesn't look like they have any spare parts for the affected areas that can fit, so right now it's in no shape to fly."

Tails let out a sigh of relief at the answer before looking at his bandaged and stitched up namesakes. "Neither am I, for that matter," he commented with a sad smile, "too bad, I really want to practice that new technique so that I don't end up like this again. And keep up with you, of course," he added while looking at Sonic with a wink.

"Heh, true. You know, I kinda, uh, unlocked a new ability while in the caves, based on the same things Cheryl discovered," Sonic then said, "you know how I normally use my quills as a sawblade? Believe it or not, I used them as a drill in the caves."

"Wow, really?" Tails seemed genuinely amazed, and it also got Knuckles' attention, "that's cool!"

Sonic remembered the situation he was in that led to that discovery in the first place, which was decidedly not cool, though he made sure not to show his fear. "Yeah, I guess. But nowhere near as cool as you, bud. You did an incredible job, something I could never do. I mean, come on, you flipped a friggin' missile back at that thing! In midair!"

Tails took a moment to consider Sonic's words, and realized that they were absolutely true. Not only had he done something heroic all by himself, it was something _only_ he could do, something Sonic couldn't have done or even helped in due to the flying nature of the threats posed by the X-1s and the absence of the Tornado.

The fox was a humble kid, but even he couldn't help but feel happy and proud at that knowledge, having finally accomplished something he had tried repeatedly over the last few days.

"He's right, you know," Alan chimed in, "you're the only reason I'm standing here right now, and the same goes for Ryan, my other colleagues, the Mayes family, and at least six hundred other people who were in the building, and those jets had likely targeted others parts of the city as well. A few people did get hurt, but there are no reports of deaths. Also, what we found on that phone you gave us has been invaluable, and this is on top of what you and Sonic did in Adabat. Seriously, Tails," the man continued as he approached the fox, "thank you. You were very brave."

Tails blushed upon hearing the compliment. "Well, not really…I was actually pretty scared that I would make another mistake or something and doom a lot of people." He smiled back at Doherty. "I was just doing what had to be done."

Alan nodded. "Anyway, what I want to say is…anything you need during your recovery, you just ask me, Cheryl or Alicia. It's the least we can do."

"Appreciate it," the fox said, although the offer did make him think of an important question. "To be honest, though, I was kinda wondering about my medical bills."

"Ah, right…" He looked away for a moment before continuing, "actually, I was thinking of that too when you were first brought here. It was a bit complicated, since frankly I'm not sure those non-citizen health care plans I got for you guys would be enough, so the moment I heard you were stabilized, I quickly set up a donation account on Facebook and GiveForward for you, and, well…" he picked up the laptop and brought it over to Tails. "Check it out for yourself."

The fox took the device and gently placed it on his bandaged torso, before checking the Facebook and GiveForward pages. The combined numbers he saw on both of them surprised him. "Four thousand dollars? In one day?"

"Wow, that's quick!" Sonic exclaimed as well.

"Not to mention it's only getting higher, fast," Doherty added, "my guess is, other than your heroic actions, it's because of that photo of you, taken right after you fell unconscious. It broke a lot of people's hearts, and some even thought you died."

The mobians were looking at that particular photo right now, which wasn't exactly hard to find. "Oh…okay," Tails said as he saw his own limp form on the grass lawn, "I guess I did look kinda dead."

"Well, if nothing else, Tails," Sonic said warmly, "it shows you don't have to afraid of the world out there. They really care for you."

"Wow…" The fox was sincerely taken aback by the display of concern from all of these donators. He was reminded of the days before he met Sonic, when the world felt like it had viewed him as nothing more than a toy at best and a dangerous demon at worst, a kitsune. Things obviously got better after he followed the hedgehog elsewhere, and people on Earth seemed to be accepting of him too based on the reception he'd gotten on his blog, but never did he expect a complete 180 from that time of his life, to be apparently regarded like Sonic himself. "I…I don't know what to say," Tails added before looking back at Doherty, now glassy-eyed, "t-thank you so much!"

"It's not me, it's them," Alan simply replied, "there're actually reporters waiting downstairs, you can tell them."

"I…I definitely have to say something," the deeply moved fox said, "although…maybe not now. When I come out of the hospital, I think. Then I should be ready."

"Alright, I'll tell them that," Doherty answered, "anyway, feel free to use that thing if you want. I gotta go soon. When the X-1 exploded, it pretty much messed up everybody's windows. We're still cleaning up the mess."

"I gotta go back to Angel Island soon too," Knuckles spoke up, "I need to move it further away from Adabat. Glad to see you're alright."

The mention of the war-torn country caused the smile Sonic and Tails had to temporarily disappear. The hedgehog almost wanted to say he had to go back there too to help out, but eventually decided against it, at least for now. "I'll be here for you, bud."

"Thanks, Sonic." That was when the door opened, and a familiar woman in a doctor's coat walked in. "Hey, hi, Cheryl!" the fox greeted her happily.

"Hey there, honey," Dr. Doherty greeted back with a glad smile, "how are you doing?"

"I'm…feeling pretty great, actually," Tails decided to say. It was the truth, after all. "And I know it's partly because of you. Thanks for patching me up," he said gratefully, "again."

"It's just my job…and actually, I should thank you too for letting us do that physical examination on you. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to tell which of your bones were broken, and which weren't, for example. In other words, you've helped us to help you," she replied, before turning around to face the others, "alright, gentlemen, you'll have to leave the room for a while."

"Sure," Alan said, and walked towards the open door. "Cheryl can fill you in on your condition," he said to Tails.

"See you later, Tails," Sonic said as he and Knuckles followed Doherty out of the room.

"Later," the fox said before the door closed.

Standing outside of the room was Ryan. "Hey, Sonic, Knuckles," he greeted, before turning to Alan, "so how is he?"

"He seems alright," Doherty answered, "I'm wouldn't worry about him. In fact, I'm more concerned about Adabat," he continued, "any news from there?"

Warner paused for a moment, and then simply shook his head.

"What about their president?"

"Oh, come on, Alan, who are we kidding?" Ryan stated with a sigh, "that interior minister guy is long gone. There is no president, there is no leader there anymore. Adabat's now just a big unregulated fighting arena with the remains of the military and the ARA as the gamecocks, the population as the ants they stamp on, and the world as the audience. The country's turned overnight from a potential Cuba into a potential Somalia, and I'm not sure that's much of an improvement. The Navy's still there, but I don't know what they can do now, other than hopefully sending more food and aid and launching fewer missiles."

Alan stared at his friend upon hearing his grim take on things. "Thanks for your honesty, Ryan."

"Yeah, I just don't see much hope for that place. Anyway, I'll be downstairs if you need me," he said as he started to move.

"I'll be with you soon."

Sonic, Knuckles and Alan sat down on a wooden bench right outside Tails' ward. The corridor was fortunately not very full with people, courtesy of Alan Doherty, who had made arrangements to make sure others did not come to disturb the fox, meaning that only other patients and hospital staff could pass.

They stayed there silently, with Sonic sitting the least still, though this time it wasn't because of his natural urge for speed. Without Tails to talk to, all of the unpleasant memories from yesterday and the day before that began to come back. He continued to find Guerrez's and Robotnik's speeches troubling to the core, especially the former. He shuddered upon remembering the boy in the devastated village crying for his father. The people who were brutally executed before his eyes. The people who were bombed in the city.

It was better to get it out as soon as possible. Sonic hoped he could find a way to discuss it with his best friend soon, perhaps after the fox's euphoria faded, as he undoubtedly deserved to revel in it right now. Until then, however…"Hey, Alan?" he called out softly.

"Yeah?"

"When are you going to debrief me?"

"Likely sometime this week," Doherty guessed, "would be useful to hear about the details of your participation in the whole thing."

"Okay…but could we talk about it here a bit first? Please?"

Sonic had never sounded like this before, and it surprised Alan. Knuckles was also listening curiously now. "Alright, sure. What is it?"

Silence followed as Sonic stared down at the floor, unsure of how to begin.

"Tails will be fine," Alan said after a while, wrongly guessing what was bothering the hedgehog, "he's a smart and tough kid."

"I know, I know, but I'm not worried about Tails," Sonic replied, "it's something else."

"I'm listening."

"Right, basically…uh, you know how the ARA was formed?"

Alan took a moment to think of an answer. "The same way most terrorist groups are formed."

_Damn it_. "Okay, uh, let me try it another way: you know _why_ the ARA was formed?"

Another delay. Doherty looked back at Sonic blankly. "Ditto."

Sonic was trying hard to be patient. "Alan, I'm serious."

"So am I," he responded before getting up. "Look, Sonic…I know what you want to talk about. We are not saints. I will freely admit that. I don't agree with everything my government does, especially not with what it did during the Cold War. In fact, I would not have joined the FBI during that time. I am aware of my country's history, as I am of Adabat's. We have indeed pissed off too many people in pursuit of our own interests, and made a lot of enemies by making the wrong friends. We are partially responsible for the instability in various parts of the world that Robotnik can take advantage of, like he did in Adabat, and I regret that.

"But the fact remains, the way some of these people respond to the wrongs we or our allies have inflicted on them is too damn much. I'd much rather we made up for it in some way other than spilling blood, no matter ours or anybody else's. That takes time, and the actions these people take in retaliation simply do not help.

"So even as I understand their motivations, we must prevent them from carrying out those retaliations anyway. They act, we react. It's as simple as that. Okay, fine, maybe not, as that by itself is open to abuse, security versus liberty and all that, but this is the most relevant part right now.

"I mean, come on, it's the same way with you and Robotnik, isn't it? You know this already. What your fellow mobians did to him was wrong, but you don't want them to be punished by him like that, do you? You, Tails, and Knuckles still go and stop him anyway, just like you went to Adabat to do. The Adabatian government and elite weren't exactly moral paragons, but you still didn't want them to be blasted into oblivion, right?"

Sonic hadn't expected such a lengthy answer. Only then did he realize that he had indeed said something similar while replying to Guerrez.

"I'm sorry if I rambled, or if this isn't the answer you're looking for," Alan continued as he lowered his volume, "but I have to give it to you straight. And anyway, I had studied history in college. Maybe that's why."

"No, it's alright," Sonic replied sincerely, but still frowning, "I appreciate it." He looked down at the floor again. "It's just that, after everything I'd seen and heard there…" He shook his head. "…I just couldn't tell who was right or wrong anymore. I mean that literally." Then again, Sonic thought…had he ever been able to do that?

"Sometimes I think everyone's both." Doherty paused for a bit before adding, "the only thing is, just because some people are on the darker shade of it, doesn't mean they need something like this happening to them," He looked back into Sonic's eyes after the hedgehog was done staring at the ground. "I remember something you once said. You believe in giving others a chance."

Sonic simply stared back upon hearing that. He had no idea how to respond.

"It's an admirable quality of yours, and Tails too, especially in the face of people who don't share it," Alan elaborated.

"Well, if I didn't hold on to it, I think I would have gone completely insane by now," Sonic replied, before finally turning to Knuckles, who had been listening all this time. "Knux," he called out, "what do you think about all this? If you have, anyway."

The echidna simply shrugged. "I guess I didn't, not much. I just went to Adabat to make sure nothing would happen to Angel Island, and we succeeded. Why they were fighting was irrelevant to me. If we managed to save lives in the process, that's just a bonus."

The hedgehog sighed in return. "Okay…if you say so. But you think we saved enough?"

Knuckles stopped to consider the question. "I think we did all that we could," he answered, "you don't have to be too hard on yourself."

After a while, Sonic slowly nodded. "Thanks, Knux. You too, Alan."

The door next to them opened again, and Cheryl walked out. "Hey, so you're all still here," she said, still smiling.

"How's he doing?" Sonic asked.

"He'll be fine, though he'll definitely need some help, at least until he gets better, which he will. You can go see him again now."

Sonic was about to head into the room, but Alan gently touched his shoulder. "Sonic," he said as the hedgehog turned around, "you can talk to me about this anytime you want. My door's always open."

A nod. This was very similar to what Sergeant Pedro Rojas had said to him. "Thanks again."

"Just a shame about Robotnik, though," Doherty lamented with a frown, "if only he didn't get away again. But I trust Knuckles that you all had done your best," he assured, "you can tell me more about it in the debriefing. Anyway, you go ahead. I gotta leave. See you all later. Cheryl, see you at home," he added before turning to walking away.

"How about you, Knux?" Sonic asked after waving goodbye to Alan.

"I'll go when night comes. Less people seeing me that way," the echidna replied, "let's go back in."

They returned into Tails' wardroom where its sole patient was still lying there. "Hey, guys," he greeted with a smile, laptop resting beside him on the table.

"Hey," Sonic said as he finally began smiling himself again, "you okay?"

"Yeah! Cheryl pretty much confirmed it herself," the fox replied cheerily, though his smile briefly disappeared as he glanced down at his casted legs. "Two months in a wheelchair, though. More physical therapy after that. Hope I can manage," he said a bit glumly.

"We'll help you every step of the way. No pun intended," the hedgehog said before chuckling good-naturedly.

"Heh, funny. Thanks," Tails said before adding more happily, "but I might be able fly again within just three weeks! I mean, of course, I still won't be able to try that jet engine technique again immediately after my tails are okay. In fact, I think I'll have to fly much more slowly than usual until my legs heal, but at least it should make things easier. I just hope I still remember how to do that once I can, since the airflow formation is kinda complicated, and it's a bit of a long delay, but I won't complain. It's better than nothing, huh?"

Sonic was very glad to see Tails being so much happier than he was despite all of his injuries. "Yeah, it definitely is," he replied with a sigh that seemed contented to the fox, but not to himself, "it's great."

"Oh, yeah, one more thing. I was using the computer, and I already promised online that I'd make a public appearance, my first one ever, when I come out of the hospital, which Cheryl says will be in a week's time, as they still have to make sure everything's really alright with me, checkups and therapy and all that. But, well, I'm kinda nervous about this. I really hope you can accompany me during that time," Tails said as he looked hopefully at his friend.

"Since you asked, why wouldn't I?" Sonic replied, doing a good job of maintaining his smile. "Like I said, we'll help you out whenever you need it."

* * *

><p>A week passed rather quickly, and Tails was released from the hospital as scheduled. In the meantime, Knuckles had returned to Angel Island, and Sonic had given a full account of his experiences in Adabat while the FBI had debriefed him, which surprised quite a lot of people, to say the least. Additionally, the total amount of donations for the fox had risen from $4,000 to $15,000.<p>

The hospital entrance was right ahead. Tails was seated on the wheelchair that he'd been gently lifted onto, his still healing namesakes placed to his sides so that he wouldn't accidentally press against them while sitting all the way back. He also had to be careful not to let his fractured feet touch the footrests, as even minor pressure on his heels was enough to send disproportionate amounts of pain up his legs.

They were waiting outside. Tails had already promised to meet them – there was no turning back. It was one more weakness he had to overcome. "I'm still pretty nervous, Sonic," he said with a gulp to the hedgehog who was pushing him from behind. It was ridiculous, really, to be so afraid of a crowd that welcomed and was grateful to him. The young fox had always been this way when it came to being in the spotlight, and the fact that he was currently sporting a large number of obvious injuries made him feel even more self-conscious, not to mention vulnerable.

"They're not going to eat you up or anything, bud," Sonic reassured. He couldn't help but be slightly amused at the way his friend commonly reacted to this kind of thing. "And I'm gonna be here the whole time."

"Yeah…" Tails felt marginally braver now. The automated sliding doors would open soon. "Okay," he said as he took in a deep breath, "here goes."

Sonic and Tails exited the hospital to be greeted by a large crowd, who quickly and loudly made their excitement clear. Endless flashes came from multiple cameras, and everyone was smiling.

The easiest way was to simply follow what Sonic did. The first thing was to smile back. Tails decided it was also appropriate to throw in a wave.

Normally the crowd would focus on Sonic, but this time their attention was placed on the fox, just like he had asked them online to do so. "Excuse me, Tails!" one of the reporters nearest to the duo said while pointing the microphone at them, before many others did the same, "so how are you doing? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Tails immediately replied, almost out of reflex, as he had already been asked that many times, "I'm much better now, thanks."

"So what do you have to say?" the reporter asked next, which was again repeated by everyone else. Soon after that, the crowd fell silent as they listened intently and curiously for Tails' answer.

He had a general idea of what to say, though he had ultimately decided not to write a script and just be natural. A short pause later, he began. "So, uh, hi everyone," he said, still smiling, "I, uh, I know I don't look so hot right now, and, well, I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt here and there. So, yeah, it will be a while before I can move around much again. I'll recover, but it'll take time." Tails thought about whether to bring up the jet ability he used that many were likely wondering about, but decided against it. As cool as it was, it wasn't important right now. It could come later.

"But at the same time, I feel…I feel glad, you know? I'm just relieved I managed to prevent a bigger disaster from happening, to stop people from getting killed. That's much more important. It didn't matter what happened to me. I'm in physical pain right now, but if I had failed, the emotional pain would be so much worse.

"And to be honest, I was really worried I actually would fail. I don't think I did very well in the last few times I tried to do something without Sonic, the kind of things he's been doing. You could say my confidence was kinda affected. So when I realized I'd really done it…well, it was surprising news. Great, but surprising, at least to me.

"Yeah, it hurt me, but I can live with that. I can't live with making mistakes that hurt others. I guess, you know, I'd rather be screwed up, instead of screw up, any day of the week!"

That earned a thunderous applause and cheers from everyone present, including Sonic. Shouts of 'Awesome!', 'Cool!' and others were made, and Tails blushed slightly upon hearing them. It took a full minute for it to die down so that he could continue.

"Anyway, uh, that leads me to the next thing I want to address. I know you guys have donated fifteen thousand dollars so far for my medical bills, and, well, I was really surprised when I first found out. Actually, it's probably the most surprising thing I've ever learned. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I thought you were stingy or something. It's just that…I never expected to be so cared for by everyone like Sonic. I've never felt that way on Mobius. I was kinda encouraged by the welcoming comments I received online after coming here, but still, to find out that so many people were so worried about me and wanted me to be alright…I was stunned.

"So, from the bottom of my heart…thank you. I cannot say that enough. And I will give it all back one day, I promise!"

Another round of applause and cheering.

"But sadly," he continued once others calmed down, as the next topic was less happy, "there are others that require this kind of help far more than I do. I'm talking about Adabat, of course. What's happened there, what's still happening there, is a tragedy. So while I appreciate the donations very much, I hope you guys can donate to help them too. They really need what they can get. I'll definitely do the same with the leftover donated funds after my entire recovery's paid for.

"And it's not just Adabat, really. Any place in the world that's unstable right now…you can help them, and I hope you do it just like you have for me. It doesn't have to be much. Because I know they feel like the world is ignoring them or even against them, and I don't want them to feel the same way I did last time. Just show a bit of concern to prove that that's not true, and I think it can make a big difference.

"Well, I guess that's it, really," Tails finally said, "if you have any more questions, you can ask me on my blog or through e-mail. Thank you for listening! Bye!"

The crowd erupted into cheering once more. More reporters tried to ask some more questions, though Sonic gently shooed them aside while wheeling Tails forwards. The fox decided to stop a few times to let various people sign their names on his casts, as well as hand out his autograph to those that wanted it. Some of them asked if they could hug him, and although he was flattered by the requests, he had to reluctantly turn them down as they'd cause his torso wounds to sting.

Eventually they reached the black Chrysler sedan that had been waiting on the street for half an hour. Sonic asked people not to come too closely before he opened the rear door, gently lifted Tails onto the rear seat, folded his wheelchair and then placed it behind the front seats. Since they were pretty short, they didn't need the legroom anyway.

Finally he closed the door before unexpectedly leaping over the car's roof to the other side. He got into the back seat from there, and the sedan began driving off, leaving the excited groups of people behind.

"You did pretty good, Tails," Sonic said after a distance, smiling, "in fact, you were probably smoother than I've been. Told you that you could do it."

"Thanks," the fox said, looking rather satisfied. He was quite surprised by his own performance himself. "I guess it's not so bad when I know what I want to say. Just hope it didn't come across as sappy or something."

"So, you okay?" the driver in front asked, before realizing exactly what he's said and hastily adding, "wait, you already said you were in your speech. Dumb question. But, really," Alan continued as he turned a corner, "you spoke pretty well. I think a lot of people will like it."

Tails chuckled modestly. "Thanks. Maybe. Whether they like it isn't important though. I just wanted to be honest, that's all, and hope that the message reached out to at least some people."

"That's nice. Oh yeah, by the way, you may be getting a phone call anytime now. Just a heads up."

"Really? From who?" The moment he asked that, the WRID began to play its ringtone. "Nice timing," the fox commented before picking up the call, "hello?"

"Excuse me," a man's voice spoke. It sounded slightly elderly. "Is this Miles Prower, AKA Tails?"

"Yeah, it's me," Tails replied, puzzled, "may I ask who this is?"

"I'm Robert Mayes, former CEO of GUN," the man answered, "I saw your speech. I think it was great."

"Oh," the fox nodded in understanding, "well, thanks."

"My pleasure. Anyway, that's not what I'm calling you for," Mayes continued, "I know that you're the one who first exposed the activities that were going on in the warehouse more than a week ago, and unraveled everything related to it. And you're also the person who delivered the cell phone to the FBI, to prove that Robotnik was blackmailing me. Not to mention if it weren't for you, I and my family would have been killed in the FBI office. I want to thank you for helping me out," the man said gratefully.

"Ah…" Tails took a moment to consider how he'd helped out without even knowing about it. "Nah, it's okay. I'm happy I could help."

"And to be honest, words just aren't going to suffice. So what I want to say is, I heard that your plane, the Tornado, isn't in the best condition right now."

"Kinda like me," the fox couldn't help but say as he glanced down at his patched up body again with a sigh.

"Indeed, and thanks to the assistance you've given me, thanks to your discoveries, my company will continue to have a chance at survival without me, and my sentence is likely to be reduced. So I'd like to return the favor. I've already spoken to my successor, Anthony Stark. I told him that if you need spare parts to repair the Tornado, we can manufacture them to your ordered specifications at a special discount just for you. We have the technology for it."

Tails did not doubt that, given what he'd seen of the X-1s, but did not expect an offer like this. "Wow, really?" he said with genuine surprise, "thanks! That's so nice of you!"

"It's the least I could do to repay you," the former CEO simply said, "you should be able to find his contact details on our website. Anyway, I have to go."

"Wait," Tails said just in time, "where are you going after this?"

"Ah, don't worry about me. I'll go on trial, and it won't be pretty, but at least everyone will know the truth. I shouldn't run away from that anyway," he said with a clearly guilty tone.

"You were only trying to protect your family," the fox said, feeling concerned.

"Yes, but I ended up getting thousands of people killed instead," Mayes carried on quietly, "I deserve this. Don't feel bad for me. I really must go now, and I hope you consider my offer, perhaps after your recovery. Thank you. Goodbye, and get well soon."

"Mr. Mayes, wait!" But he had already hung up. Tails put the WRID down with mixed feelings. "Wow…"

"So what did he say?" Alan asked. Sonic was also looking at the fox curiously.

"He says GUN can give me a discount on spare parts for the Tornado," he explained, then looked downwards, his ears folding in the same direction. "I feel bad for him though, even though he told me not to."

"Yeah, he'll still definitely have to be charged," Doherty said flatly, "but at least you managed to save him, in more ways than one. Otherwise he could be facing life or something, the first person to get such a punishment under the provision for this kind of thing, for providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization."

"I guess," Tails replied with a shrug, "as for the spare parts, well, I really appreciate their offer, but they'll have to wait. I'm not really up to doing physical work at the moment. Unless I talk to Miles at Edwards, maybe he can help…" He was surprised he didn't think of this issue sooner. "Man, what am I going to do while I'm healing?"

"I've already set up the TV for you at home," Alan answered, "you can watch all the DVDs we have. Not to mention Alicia's hooked up her Xbox 360 to it. She's bought plenty of games over the years, including last month. The latest one she's gotten is called _Skyrim_, I think. Anything else you need, you just ask."

The fox was taken aback for the umpteenth time in days. "Aw…you didn't have…thanks."

"Yeah, that's real nice of you guys," Sonic decided to speak up. "Anyway, looks like we're almost there. I'll help you down, Tails."

* * *

><p>Both the hedgehog and fox were back home in the Doherty residence for the first time in over a week for the rest of the day, with the former and the Dohertys giving the latter help when he needed some, but otherwise resuming life as usual.<p>

The duo were alone in the living room where Tails was going to have to sleep for the time being, as he couldn't go up the stairs himself, nor did he wish to trouble anyone to carry him upstairs to the bedroom he and Sonic shared. And so Sonic had decided that if Tails couldn't sleep on the second floor, he wouldn't either. The fox hoped that he'd at least be able to fly himself up there after the cuts on his tails healed, perhaps carrying his wheelchair with him while doing so.

For now, they were content to stay downstairs. Sonic was resting on the couch while Tails was still on his wheelchair, both facing the TV set. Cheryl had cooked a rather big lunch for everyone earlier, and they were still trying to digest everything. The fox had later learned with some embarrassment that, like in the hospital, he needed help going to the bathroom, although it was the cuts on his body rather than his leg injuries that made it difficult, as they made it painful to even twist and turn around, which was why he didn't feel like lifting himself off his wheelchair to sit anywhere else.

Despite the number of things they could do on the TV to entertain themselves, the only one they were doing with it right now was watching the news. There was, of course, talk about Tails' first public appearance in the morning, but then it switched to coverage on something else. The same thing that had continued to trouble Sonic badly when he wasn't thinking about Tails.

"…with the continued fighting between the remains of the military and the ARA, virtually all of its political, economic and military leadership killed or forced to flee, and almost total loss of economic output, analysts are concerned that Adabat may have degenerated into a state of anarchy," the British-accented news anchor stated as footage of the devastated Adabat City skyline was displayed, "in total, an estimated 33,000 people have perished since the airstrikes on Adabat City more than a week ago, a number that is three times higher than the combined death toll of the internal conflict that had plagued the country's rural areas for thirty years before that day."

The numbers shocked both of them. Three times more people had died in a week than in thirty years?

"The number of refugees to the United States and other countries is expected to rise exponentially in the coming months." The footage was now showing Adabatian familes getting off ships at various ports. "At least two thousand people have arrived separately at Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, Sydney and other cities yesterday, double the number on the day before that.

"Meanwhile, there has also been debate over the involvement of Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower and Knuckles the Echidna in the most destructive day of Adabat's civil war, and the effects they had brought about though their intervention. Many believe that they have saved countless more Adabatians from their deaths, although others dispute this…"

Sonic was unable to listen or watch any further. He looked down at the floor as he once again thought about what Robotnik had said to him and Guerrez in that cave, especially his line about seeing what would happen to Adabat after he left. His feelings, already low, sunk even further. "Tails?" he called out weakly.

"Yeah?" The fox noticed something was off about the hedgehog's voice, although given what they were watching, it wasn't hard to guess why. "Sonic, you okay? I really mean it," he said, wanting to help his friend.

Sonic did not answer. He thought he should bring it up now. "Tails…you know, in my debriefing, I told them that I actually met Robotnik for a short while before he escaped."

"Yeah, Alan told me a few details about what you said," the fox said, "though only a bit. So what did he say? He definitely said something."

A sigh. "He said something about how if he'd taken over Adabat, he would have ensured stability under his iron rule, and none of this would be happening right now," Sonic summarized, pointing to the TV, not wanting to see what it was showing now. "So…here's the thing. I never thought I would say this, but…you think he's right? You think the country would have been better off under him?" _Man, I must sound so ridiculous right now_.

The question made Tails fall silent too. "You know…I'm not really sure too," he admitted, before apparently shuddering, "scary, huh? That it actually could have been better if he had…won?"

Sonic's mind went completely blank. He really could not consider that thought. He sympathized with Robotnik and wanted to help him, but not by letting him have an opportunity to go mad with power. And yet, seeing what was on the news now…"He can't have won," the hedgehog said almost lifelessly, "he…he can't have. No way." Unconsciously, he had already gotten up from the couch, fists curled. "He can't be right."

Tails, already having an idea of what Sonic was thinking, wheeled himself up to him. "Sonic, if you really want…you can go back to Adabat. Go and help those people. If only just to prove Robotnik wrong."

"I…I want to do that," Sonic let out honestly, "but…what about you?"

"I know, but I have the Dohertys to help me, at least." The fox glanced at the TV screen and then back, looking a bit upset. "But Adabat…they have no one. A lot of people might be donating or giving aid to them now, but they have no single person or figure to rely on. Go there and be that person. They need you more than I do."

It was Sonic's turn to be surprised. "Really?"

"Yes," Tails stressed, turning back to and pointing at the TV, "hey, check that out!"

Sonic finally decided to look at it again as well. "…large numbers of crates of food and supplies here at Naval Base San Diego, ready to be sent to Adabat for relief purposes over the next few days…"

"I'll be fine," the fox continued, "the Navy still might be able to take you back there now, just like they did to return you here the day I got hurt. The earlier you go, the more people you can save."

Feeling incredibly glad that he no longer needed to choose between his friend and other people, Sonic made his decision as he began striding towards the front door. "So…I guess I should get moving now?"

Tails responded with a simple, but firm, nod. "Go for it."

"Okay, in that case…" Sonic opened the door and looked back at the young fox one last time. "Tell the others, okay? I'll keep in touch. Tails…take care."

"I will. You too," Tails assured him, "good luck! Bye!"

And with that, the hedgehog closed the door and began his new journey. He raced onto the tarmac and zoomed down the streets, professionally sliding around the same corners that he had many days ago, only this time it wasn't for fun. In fact, this was likely the most serious run he had embarked on thus far in his life.

He ran towards his destination, briefly looking to the sky to see the orange sunset, lips straighter than ever. The goal in his mind was clear. He was not going to let any more people become victims in the struggle between him and Robotnik. No, he was going to save _everyone_.

Because he was Sonic the Hedgehog, and this was the responsibility that he had sworn to take up, and to never, ever put down, no matter what. This responsibility was a part of him. It _was_ him.

**THE END**

**Author's Note: Thanks to ALL who reviewed or faved! I couldn't have finished it without your support. Special thanks to DC111 for her amazingly detailed reviews! Really wouldn't have improved or reached the end without you! Big thanks also to Stainless Steel Fox, without whom this story would have been impossible to finish or flesh out.**


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